


Invasion

by roeskva



Category: Stargate SG-1
Genre: Adventure, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Apocafic, Drama, Explicit Sexual Content, F/M, Gen, Het, Hurt/Comfort, Sexual Content, Team, Tok'ra, apocalyptic fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-11
Updated: 2015-12-11
Packaged: 2018-05-06 05:26:36
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 21
Words: 49,130
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5404700
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/roeskva/pseuds/roeskva
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Upon awakening SG-1 find themselves connected to an alien device. They soon realize a familiar enemy has returned to conquer Earth, this time with much more success. Now SG-1 must avoid recapture, learn how much of their world has been infiltrated by the aliens, and attempt to free the planet. It does not make things easier that anyone they meet could be one of the aliens hiding behind a familiar face.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Waking Up in an Alien Facility

**Author's Note:**

> WARNINGS: minor character deaths, sexual situations
> 
> NOTES: The idea for this story came from a prompt from Tok'ra Kree!: 102. SG-1, SG-1 (original) and any Tok'ra, the Foothold aliens had returned again and succeeded this time. They have taken at least all of the US. The Foothold aliens are running an entire simulation inside the heads of those trapped, to make sure they do not wake up and discover the truth. Sam and Teal'c are only connected to the simulation but not "cloned" as that part do not work on them (due to Junior and changed done by Jolinar). Now and then Sam and Teal'c wake up. This time they manage to find their teammates and escape before the aliens return. They run into some Tok'ra who are on Earth to check on their allies who have not been heard from for many months (this is maybe early/mid 2000 - anything after that has been imagined by SG-1). How to save Earth?
> 
> NOTES: takes place post-series - or does it?
> 
> Thank you to Eilidh for wonderful art, and to Skarpedin for beta and many discussions about the story!
> 
> Art by Eilidh can be found here: http://eilidh17.livejournal.com/87663.html

"Major Carter was awake again. So was the Jaffa," Major Davis reported.

"Perhaps the time has come to rid ourselves of them," Colonel O'Neill said. "After all, their minds cannot be tapped, and so their images are of limited use to us."

"You are forgetting that their absence would cause suspicion in the mindweb. That would affect the integrity of the simulation, and so risk the connections and the content of the mind-transfer. According to our scientists, it could easily cause disruptions at a critical point," Lieutenant Colonel Samuels reminded them.

"We should wait, then," Major Davis suggested, "We are not yet strong enough, and our positions are not yet completely secure. Soon we will be ready to move outside this country, and then other subjects will be of more value. After all, Major Carter and Teal'c will not remember this small... _escapade_ when they are reconnected."

"Agreed. It is a minor nuisance for now. Increase the dosage of the drug as much as possible."

"We will. However, remember that they cannot be kept too deeply unconscious if they are to participate in the simulation," Major Davis warned.

"Yes, an unfortunate fact. Well. The guards will remain, and so will Major Carter and Teal'c. This discussion is closed until level 3 is completed," General Hammond decided.

* * *

Sam slowly woke up and groggily looked around in the low light. She had no idea where she was, but she had a vague memory of being here before. Wherever 'here' was.

The room was small. She could just make out the greyish walls, and some sort of device standing nearby, hiding the other half of the room. It was blinking slowly and humming softly.

She was in a bed, hooked up to various cables and wires, and she wore a helmet of sorts on her head, with a strap or something similar under her chin.

She wondered if she was sick, or injured, perhaps, and spent a moment trying to take stock of herself. She felt no pain, and thought herself reasonably well, though when she tried to lift her hands, it was clear she was pretty weak. She groaned softly as a flurry of images popped up before her inner eye. Images and sounds. The room seemed to disappear around her.

Hallucinations? Or was the _room_ the hallucination?

She felt groggy, and she could barely raise her arms. With some effort she managed to rip off the strap under her chin, then grab hold of her helmet and pull at it. After some moments, it came off. Slowly the strange sounds and images faded. Only the room, the bed, and the device was left.

She now noticed that cables and wires were running from her to the device, and wires went from the device to the roof, snaking along it and disappearing into the wall. More wires connected the helmet she had worn to the device.

It was time to do something about those cables that she was hooked up to. She was still strangely weak, and when she tried sitting up, she realized she was also strapped to the bed.

She found it all incredibly weird and unsettling. Slowly, she lifted her right arm, and found where the fastenings were tying her to the bed. She tore at one of them, unsuccessfully.

The damn cables were in the way, hindering much of her movement.

With a groan she tore them from her hands, ignoring the liquid that splattered when she did so. She did not know if it was blood or something that was being pumped into her, but decided that all things considered, it was probably unlikely she was being treated for anything. The fact that she was wearing t-shirt and BDU pants - and boots, and had no blanket over her - were other strong indicators.

With her hands free, she could work on the fastenings, and after several frantic minutes she managed to free herself so she could sit up. Doing that, she felt as if the whole room was spinning. She groaned at the rising nausea, and closed her eyes as she forced it back down with an effort.

She took a deep breath, and the room slowly stopped moving. She opened her eyes and found that she could remove the rest of the binding and cables easily, and then she was free.

Sam looked around, and listened for any sounds other than those from the machine. That was when she suddenly sensed something.

An energy signature from a symbiote!

She silently swung her legs to the side of the bed, stopping for a moment when the room again began to spin. After several deep breaths, she put her feet on the floor and stood - and almost fell. Her legs felt so weak they would barely carry her.

Supporting herself against the bed and the strange device, she managed to stand, then slowly walk.

Slowly, cautiously, she circled the machine.

" _Teal'c_!" she exclaimed, just staring at the man lying in a bunk, similar to the one Sam had just woken up in.

He did not react to her call. Sam studied him for a moment. He wore the same type of helmet that she had worn, the same cables and wires connected him to the machine, and the same type of fastenings bound him to the bed.

She gently touched his shoulder. "Teal'c..." she repeated, keeping her voice down. No need to alert whoever it was who had put them here.

She was still feeling groggy, and her mind was like molasses, but she was fairly certain _something_ was not right about all this - and she was also getting the distinct feeling she should recognize the technology, and not for something good.

Teal'c regained consciousness and opened his eyes, staring into nothingness for a few moments before his gaze focused on her, and then another moment before she saw recognition in his eyes.

"Colonel Carter." His eyes fell shut again.

Sam groaned and took the helmet off him, and gave him a light shove. " _Teal'c_! I need you awake!"

His eyes opened again, and he tried to sit up. Noticing the restraints, he tore them apart as if they were nothing, and sat up.

"Where are we?" He looked around, then glared at the cables still connected to him in several places. He ripped them out with little effort.

"No idea." Sam frowned. "But the tech is giving me a bad feeling..."

"The aliens from the Foothold situation," Teal'c said, swinging his legs over the side of the bed and standing. He swayed, and his expression betrayed the dizziness and nausea he was feeling.

" _Damn_ , you're right!" Sam exclaimed, steadying him with a hand. "Careful. They've drugged us with something."

"Yes. I will manage."

"Sure." She eyed him worriedly as she let go. "We need to get away - and find out if anyone else is being held here."

"Indeed."

They walked, slowly and as silently as possible, to the door. Sam swayed a little as she reached it. "Whoa!" She looked at Teal'c. "You seem to be doing better."

"I am." He opened the door and almost fell through the door.

"Take it easy!"

"Some of the drug still remains, but I seem to be neutralizing it faster than you."

"Lucky," Sam said. "Well, there's no one out here." She gingerly stepped out into the long, empty corridor. Her legs still felt like rubber. A red light was blinking steadily at the end, but otherwise it was fairly dark.

"Do you hear... or rather sense, a high-pitched sound?" Sam asked, turning to look at Teal'c.

He was wincing. "I do. It is most unpleasant."

She stared at the blinking light for a few moments. "It's an alarm! It's just not meant for our ears!" She looked around for a way out, and opened the nearest door.

Inside, a dim light came on, and she saw one of the big devices, or structures, perhaps, with people hanging in harnesses. Just like they had back then, when the Foothold aliens had attacked.

"Crap!" She sighed. "We don't have the time to free them. We'll have to come back for them later."

"Colonel Carter," Teal'c said.

"Yes?"

"I have found Daniel Jackson."

Sam groaned. "Okay, we can't leave him. We need to get him down, quickly."

Teal'c had started to free Daniel, and she joined them as quickly as she could. She was still dizzy, but her head had started to clear. The weakness had not left her, though, and her legs still felt as if they could only just carry her.

"Daniel?" Sam shook him gently. "We have to go!"

He mumbled something in a low voice, but did not react otherwise.

"Damn it, Teal'c?" Sam had to hold on to Daniel, or it was obvious he would fall.

"Coming. I have found General O'Neill."

" _What_? Sam turned, frowning. "He shouldn't have been in a position to get caught!"

"Mph?" Daniel said groggily.

Sam returned her focus to him. "Hi, Daniel!"

He looked up at her and blinked his eyes rapidly a couple of times. Sam frowned, and looked closer at him in the dull light. He seemed different, somehow, but she could not put a finger on it. Not as long as her own mind was sluggish from the drug. In any case, now was not the time to worry about that. They needed to get out, and quickly.

"I am helping O'Neill down," Teal'c informed her.

"Good." Sam helped Daniel stand up straight. "We gotta get out of here. Can you walk, Daniel?"

"Yeah, yeah... I think so..." He looked at her. "Sam? Why are you here?"

"I don't really know, but let's worry about that later." She helped him walk to the door, while Teal'c freed O'Neill, who was clearly just as confused and groggy as the rest of them.

"Colonel Carter. I believe that one hanging near the roof is Major Ferretti," Teal'c said.

She stopped, just inside the door. "What?! _Ferretti_?" She half-turned to stare up at the person Teal'c indicated. "It's too dark for me to see."

"I am quite certain. However, I do not know how to get him down from up there."

"Let's worry about that later," Sam decided. "We need to get out of here before someone comes to check on the alarm."

* * *

They walked through long, dimly lit, empty corridors, looking into a room here and there. Several more contained unconscious people in the alien harnesses, connected to the large machines. It was beyond creepy, and the alarm was not helping.

The effects of the drug was starting to clear from Sam, and Teal'c seemed to be back to normal, but Daniel and O'Neill were still badly affected and had to get help from Sam and Teal'c. Because of this, and because Sam, Daniel, and O'Neill were all weakened, they could not move as fast as they wanted, and they constantly worried that their captors would return any moment.

They made their way up several flights of stairs, regularly having to stop and recover. Thankfully, they met no one, and finally they found an exit. The door was locked, but Teal'c forced it without much trouble. Outside it was almost completely dark. The moon was more than half full, but there were so many clouds that it only cast a bleak light.

They were barely out of the door before they spotted car lights in the distance. They approached at high speed.

"This way," Teal'c told them, indicating a stone fence that was just visible at the edge of the parking lot.

Moving as fast as they could, they made it to the fence just as the cars drove up in front of the building. Exhausted, Sam, Daniel, and O'Neill collapsed in the relative security.

Guards emerged from the cars and ran into the facility. Teal'c had stuck his head up to watch, just for a moment.

"Careful," Sam whispered. "With their car lights on they may see us."

"They all appear to have entered the building," Teal'c said.

"Did they look human?" Sam wondered. "Not that it matters. I mean, we know they have the technology to masquerade as us."

"It's cold as hell!" Daniel complained, shivering. " _And_ there's fog!"

"Maybe we should take the opportunity and steal one of their cars?" O'Neill suggested.

"An excellent idea," Teal'c said. "I will do so and return here with it, since I am the only one not affected by weakness."

"No!" O'Neill exclaimed. He continued in a lower voice. "No, they'll hear the car. We need to get over there all of us, so that when we do make any noise, we'll be gone quickly."

"Makes sense. Let's go - the longer we wait, the more chance they'll return to look for us," Sam said.

The fresh, cold air had cleared their heads, and they were all able to walk without support now, even if slowly. It was very obvious that all of them, with the exception of Teal'c, were a good deal weaker than normal.

They had made it to one of the cars, and Sam was trying to jump start it when several guards exited the building, shouting something when they noticed the escapees.

" _Damn_! Hurry up, Carter!" O'Neill exclaimed.

"I'm _trying_..." Sam said, working frantically.

A shot rang out, and the bullet grazed the side of the car.

"Work faster!" O'Neill ordered.

"Done!" Sam said, as the car engine roared to life.

"Then let's get out of here!" O'Neill exclaimed. "Teal'c!"

Teal'c was at the steering wheel, and already turning the car around when O'Neill gave the order. Several more shots were fired at them, and one went through the side window and hit Sam in the upper arm. She cried out.

"Sam!" Daniel exclaimed.

"I'm... I'm okay," Sam gasped, clinging to the dashboard with one hand, while the car reeled.

Another car had started behind them, and what appeared to be guards came running towards them from ahead. More shots were fired, and one went through the windshield, hitting Teal'c in the shoulder. He let out a cry, and the car swerved for a moment, but amazingly he got it under control and they continued.

"You okay, T?" O'Neill asked, concerned.

"I am."

"Carter?"

"I'll, I'll be fine. It's... a flesh wound. Hurts like hell, though." Sam grimaced. With the car moving somewhat more steady, she now managed to get the seat belt locked. Breathing deeply, she leaned back in the seat and closed her eyes for a moment.

"We have _got_ to lose those guys!" O'Neill said, unnecessarily, when another volley of shots hit the left side mirror.

"I am attempting to do so, O'Neill," Teal'c answered. He took the next curve without slowing down, then stepped on the speeder when the road was straight again.

The night was very dark, with only the thin moon and their own car lights lighting the road. It was cloudy and the rain started falling when they had driven for a short time.

"They're getting closer! Step on it!" O'Neill insisted.

Light could be seen up ahead. "More cars approaching. Do you think they are unfriendly?" Teal'c wondered.

"Given our luck, probably. Turn left here!" O'Neill exclaimed, making a last-ditch decision. "Now, _now_!"

The car's tires squealed loudly as Teal'c followed the order.

"Whoa! _Teal'c_! Are you _trying_ to kill us?" Daniel complained, when the car turned onto the smaller road without slowing down, causing them all to be slammed back and forth, despite the seat belts.

Sam cried out as her arm was bumped hard, just where the shot wound was.

"Are they still following?" Teal'c asked, strangely calm - and ignoring Daniel's rhetorical question.

"They overshot and have to go back!" Daniel told him, some relief in his voice. He added, tension returning. "They're back on track."

"Watch out! There's a barrier across the road!" Sam exclaimed.

"I see it," Teal'c said, not slowing down.

There were deep ditches along the narrow road, so he could not turn, nor could he stop - unless they wanted to be caught.

"We're going to die!" Daniel cried out as they smashed into the beam that ran across the road, and blocked access to what turned out to be a very rickety wooden bridge.

"Keep going! Don't slow down!" O'Neill exclaimed when the bridge groaned and creaked under their weight.

Surprisingly, they made it to the other side. They had just gotten off the bridge when they heard a large crash.

Daniel made a whoop. "The bridge collapsed under the car following us! They're in the river!"

"Don't stop! Just keep going!" O'Neill insisted. "We want to get as far away from them as possible before they find a way around or across!"


	2. Escaped and Some Realizations

"I regret to inform you that four of the prisoners have escaped from the mind-link facility," Major Davis said.

"Which ones?" Hammond demanded.

Major Davis hesitated. "SG-1," he finally said, unhappily.

"And you have not captured them? Are you _aware_ how important they are?" Hammond exclaimed. "Catch them. _Immediately_. Take any troops and resources you need!"

"Yes, sir," Major Davis said, getting up to leave the room.

"Wait! Send one of the collaborators into the simulation!"

"Of course, sir. What will be his orders?" Major Davis asked.

"Have him inform the humans that SG-1 were urgently needed and were... transported aboard one of the Tau'ri X-303 ships they have hallucinated into being," Hammond said, in a derogatory tone.

"I will do so. Since we cannot enter the simulation, it is certainly fortunate the beings of this world are so greedy that they will cooperate with us against their own kind, just for minor trifles."

"They are inferior. There is no reason to ponder deeply on their motives," Hammond said. "Carry out my orders immediately."

"Yes, sir." Major Davis hurried out the door.

* * *

SG-1 drove on for several miles, turning onto another road and continuing until they found an old abandoned farm, some distance up a gravel road, inside a small forest. By then, the rain had almost stopped, but it was still completely overcast and very dark.

"Let's hide the car for now and take a break to assess our situation. We also need to do something about your injuries Carter, Teal'c," O'Neill said.

"Agreed." Sam grimaced as she carefully touched her upper arm.

They had stopped very briefly as soon as they had dared, and tied a makeshift bandage around the wounds, to stop them from bleeding heavily.

"We should get to a city, don't you think?" Daniel suggested. "Find a doctor."

"Of course! But not until we've determined what is going on or where we are," O'Neill said.

"We can hide the car in that old barn, don't you think?" Sam suggested.

O'Neill nodded. "I think that'll work."

He got out of the car and went to open the large door to the barn, and the others drove the car inside.

* * *

Sam groaned, as she let herself down into one of the rickety chair still standing in the kitchen. She shivered. She had made it inside before the rain started again, but it was cold and clammy.

"I found an old kerosene lamp in the barn," Daniel said, entering the room. "We just need some way of lighting it." He stopped. "It's so dark in here I can't see _anything_. Sam?" He began to close the door.

"I'm here," Sam told him. "Don't close the door - the windows are too dirty to let in what little light there is."

Daniel nodded, despite Sam not being able to see that. "Okay. I think I see a shadow where you are." He slowly walked closer, then let out a low groan as he hit the table.

"Careful. That's the kitchen table. At least I _think_ it is."

Daniel felt along the table. "Seems like there isn't anything on it." He put the lamp down on the flat surface. "Except dirt." He grimaced.

Teal'c and O'Neill came in as well, and Teal'c walked over and sat down on another chair, opposite Sam. It creaked dangerously under him.

"How can you see _anything_ in here?" O'Neill complained, shivering from the cold and rain.

"We can't," Daniel said.

"Not very much, at least," Sam added.

"I am a Jaffa," Teal'c told him.

"Sure." O'Neill sighed. "There's a brook behind the barn. We can get some water from there to clean your wounds, Carter, Teal'c," O'Neill told them. "It's also starting to rain strongly again - it may be to our advantage. It'll mask all tracks we've made on the gravel road."

"It also means it's almost completely dark in here," Sam said. She looked towards the dirty windows, which stood out as grey rectangles in the sea of black. The door was still open, giving a bit of light as well, and letting them easily hear the rain that now fell steadily.

"I found some matches in the glove compartment," O'Neill informed them.

"That's great! I found a lamp! It sounds like there's still kerosene or something in it," Daniel said.

"Okay, if someone can tell me where the hell it is, I can try light it." O'Neill carefully took a step in the direction where Daniel's voice had just come from.

"Here, sir," Sam felt along the lamp, and found the glass top that covered the wick. She lifted up the glass.

"Let's see, then," O'Neill got a match out and lit it. The lamp was lighted on the first try. "Hey, what do you know! Some good luck for once!"

"We can certainly use it," Sam observed solemnly as she put the glass back on the lamp.

The lamp gave off a soft light, enough that they could easily see each other, the table, and the chairs around it. Further away the room faded into shadows.

O'Neill held his hands up close to the lamp, trying to warm them somewhat.

"Yeah, it's cold," Daniel observed, unnecessarily.

"Yes, it must be late fall. Unless we're far to the north. I haven't seen the stars, so I don't know," Sam said. She rolled up the short sleeve of her shirt, grimacing as she touched the makeshift bandage around her upper arm.

"It's bled through. We need to do something about it soon," O'Neill said, unhappily. "How is your shoulder, Teal'c?"

"I will manage," he answered.

"Stop trying to be a hero, Teal'c! You don't have a symbiote any longer, so you can't just heal up in no time," O'Neill exclaimed.

"I have not forgotten."

"Yes, he does," Sam said.

"What?" O'Neill asked.

"He has a symbiote."

Teal'c was silent for a moment. "Colonel Carter is correct. I can feel it."

" _What_!" O'Neill exclaimed. " _How_?"

"Maybe those aliens that captured us didn't have access to tretonin, but needed Teal'c alive? Couldn't they have reintroduced a symbiote?" Daniel suggested.

"The pouch had started to close," Teal'c said.

"It is also risky, and doesn't always work," Sam added. She shook her head. "I sensed the energy signature earlier. I don't know why I forgot about it."

"Maybe because we were all drugged, and then you got shot by the bad guys we're currently trying to escape?" O'Neill suggested.

"Possibly." Sam gave him a small smile. She frowned. "Something else I noticed back in the compound, but that I'd forgotten; you all look different. _Younger_."

"That's true," O'Neill said, looking around at the others in the gloom. "What the _Hell_ is going on here!"

"Maybe we're hallucinating and still back there in the harnesses?" Daniel suggested.

"Don't be so depressing, Daniel!"

"All right, then maybe they made us younger. The aliens I mean."

"Doubtful, why would they do that?" Sam asked.

"Okay, what about time travel, then?" Daniel suggested.

"How would that make us younger?" O'Neill asked.

"Uh... _maybe_ it was just our consciousnesses that time travelled. Or... _something_ ," Daniel said, feeling a bit sheepish.

"I suppose that is possible," Sam said slowly. "Though unlikely."

"Could they not have cloned us?" Teal'c suggested. "We know that the Trust has this technology. Perhaps they are working with these aliens."

" _That's_ a scary thought!" O'Neill exclaimed.

Sam nodded. "Very." She moved her arm a little and gave a small yelp.

"Okay, we can discuss this later. We need to do something about your arm first, Carter - and about your shoulder, Teal'c."

"As I again have a symbiote, it will be able to take care of this minor injury myself," Teal'c said, his expression mixed.

"Then do your kel'no'reem. Daniel and I'll check out this place and see what we can find," O'Neill ordered.

Daniel got up, putting his hand against the table for support as he stood. He groaned. "Are you guys also still feeling weak? I can barely _stand_!"

"Yeah, I am," O'Neill said.

"So am I. I thought it was the drug, but it hasn't really gotten better," Sam told them.

"It is a minor inconvenience," Teal'c said.

"Good for you! I guess that's something to thank Junior - or whomever - for," O'Neill said. He took the lamp. "Come on, Daniel."

* * *

"What's that?" Sam asked. " _Whisky_?"

"Moonshine," O'Neill said, grinning. He put the lamp back on the table in front of Sam. "We found it in a shed behind the house. It tastes really bad, but it'll work just fine for cleaning wounds."

She nodded. "Right."

"I also found these!" Daniel said, placing a stack of candles on the table.

"Teal'c will be happy. I think he really didn't like the idea of kel'no'reem without candles." Sam gave him a wry smile.

"Got a small sewing kit too. Now, where's Teal'c?" O'Neill asked, letting himself down on a chair with a soft groan.

"Outside, checking up on a sound we heard."

"Okay, I'd better go see how he's doing." O'Neill sighed. He pushed off against the table and got to his feet again, then grabbed the lamp.

The door opened and Teal'c entered. "The door to the barn had not been closed properly and the wind caused it to make the sound we heard."

"Ah - that's a relief," Sam said.

"And now there are no more excuses, Teal'c! Kel'no'reem! We've even got you some candles," O'Neill told him sternly.

"That is most appreciated."

Daniel had lighted several of the candles he had found, and was dripping wax on the table so they would remain standing. When he was finished, he sat down with a relieved sigh.

"So Colonel 'Splint-setter'. It is payback time!" O'Neill said with a smirk.

Sam frowned. "What are you _talking_ about?"

"You, me, Antartica. Ring any bells?"

Sam groaned. "I'd hoped you had forgotten."

"Teal'c, are you _sure_ we don't have a thicker needle?" O'Neill asked, grinning. "Daniel?"

Teal'c merely raised an eyebrow.

"Uh, I think I saw an icepick..." Daniel suggested.

Sam rolled her eyes and sighed deeply. She carefully pulled her sleeve up again, and steeled herself.

O'Neill removed the blood-soaked bandage and poured a good amount of alcohol on the wound. "It's a flesh wound as you said, but pretty deep. I'll have to put in some stitches."

"That's what I feared." She shuddered.

He cleaned a needle and some thread in the alcohol, then held out the bottle to her. "Take a sip."

"No thanks, you told me it tasted like shit!"

"Oh, it does. It's rotgut. You're still going to want a drink - and make it a big one. Trust me, I've been there." He pushed the bottle at her, and this time she took it.

Sam took at small, hesitant sip, then grimaced and almost spit it out. She forced the offending liquid down. "God! It's even _worse_ than the stuff we got on Abydos!"

"Ska'ara's moonshine? That was first class compared to this." O'Neill grinned. "Take another drink. It's an order, Colonel!"

She sighed, but did as he told her and drank again, deeper this time. She forced the fiery liquid down. "Happy?"

"Acceptable." He smiled.

Sam gritted her teeth as O'Neill set to work, stitching the wound on her arm.

* * *

"Teal'c?" O'Neill asked. "Sure you're okay already?" He grabbed the half-full bottle of homemade alcohol, deciding it could be useful later.

"I am sufficiently healed to continue. My symbiote will take care of the remaining injury while we drive."

O'Neill nodded slowly, hesitantly. "All right. The sooner we get going the better. Daniel? Carter?"

"Coming... whoa!" Sam exclaimed, grabbing hold of the table as she almost fell getting up. "Still weak..."

"And drunk..." Daniel suggested, getting up too. He groaned. "Though I'll agree on the weakness. How long do you think it'll take before that damn drug is out of our systems?"

"I don't think that's why we're weak," Sam said as they walked to the car. "Not the only reason anyway."

"What, then?" O'Neill asked. He looked up into the completely dark sky. At least it was no longer raining, but the wind was picking up again, and they were all very cold.

"If we've been in that alien device for a long time, well, more than a few weeks, really, then we'd become weak from not using our muscles."

"Of course," O'Neill said, nodding. "But that's good news. It means we've probably only been in that damn thing for less than a month or so!"

"Then the aliens may not have conquered your entire world, and there could still be allies for us to find," Teal'c added. "We should attempt to make contact with Stargate Command."

"We need to find a different car," O'Neill said, looking at the windshield. One of the bullets had made a small hole in it, and the glass had fractured and splintered, somewhat like a web. The front of the car was also damaged, from driving through the barriers by the closed bridge.

"I just remembered something. We have implants and can be beamed up to Daedalus or whatever as soon as they realize we are missing or we contact them," Daniel said, as they all got into the car.

"As much as I love that optimism, there has to be a catch. I mean, look at yourself! Things are _clearly_ not as we remember them!" O'Neill started the car.

"We can't know how long we've been in the machine," Sam said slowly. "There's no way to tell what it's effects are, and we also had some sort of drug in our systems. It could have slowed down the weakening of our muscles."

"Okay, I _may_ buy that, but it wouldn't make us younger. Would it?" O'Neill asked.

"No, I don't think so."

"Which means we're back to the cloning business."

"Maybe not... I mean, it's possible, sure, but I think we should be able to check that pretty easily. We've all gotten some scars over the years. It's not likely those have been replicated."

"Right, that makes sense," Daniel said. He pulled up his shirt and examined his stomach. "Uh, guys? I do have the scar from when I got an appendectomy."

"So probably not clones." O'Neill sighed, as he turned the car onto the gravel road that lead from the remote farm to the paved road they had arrived by earlier that night.

"Probably not," Sam agreed.

"I don't even know if that's good or bad! I mean, what other explanation _is_ there but time travel?" O'Neill exclaimed. He shook his head. "Now we have to live through all the crap with Anubis and the Ori again! _Dammit_!"

"Depending on _when_ this is, maybe not. It may even never have happened, indeed may _never_ happen." Sam hesitated. "It... could all have been a, well, a hallucination, something we have... dreamed up..."

" _Dreamed up_?" O'Neill scoffed. "Who would _think_ of something like that! What we have experienced over the years." He shook his head. " _No_ one is that crazy. _No one_!"

"Don't be so sure," Sam said. "The human mind is amazingly creative." She gave a small yelp of pain as her arm was bumped against the back of the seat, when the car hit one of the many potholes in the road.

"I don't think 'amazing' is the right word. I'd say 'insane' is more fitting!" O'Neill insisted, sarcastically. "If I _ever_ learn who imagined those things for the rest of us to 'enjoy'..." He shook his head. "So, how much of what we think happened is real? What about Anubis? I mean, that guy was so crazy and over the top, even for a Goa'uld, so he almost _had_ to be imagined!"

"Obviously, there is no way of knowing that - except that if we figure out _when_ this is, then we'll at least know that anything after that time didn't really happen. _If_ this theory is true, of course," Sam said, sheepishly. "Um, Anubis is real, by the way. Or was, because he's dead, if I remember correctly from Jolinar - I suppose it's possible he did ascend, I guess."

O'Neill grumbled. " _Wonderful_!"

"And I am probably to blame for most of the, ah, hallucinations about the Goa'uld, and the Tok'ra. From Jolinar's memories," Sam said, looking guilty.

"It is likely there has been some influence from my knowledge of the Goa'uld as well," Teal'c observed.

"Gee, thanks for that, guys!" O'Neill snorted. Raindrops starting hitting the windshield. "And now it's raining again! _Typical_!"

"Uh, but most of the stuff must actually have happened, right? I mean, either that or a _long_ time has passed in the hallucinations. Many years, and from what Sam said about us not being weak... _even_ weaker, that can't be true, can it?" Daniel asked.

"No, we're not that weak. We would not be able to walk unsupported, if we had been in there for years," Sam agreed.

"Unless the alien drug affected us, keeping us stronger than otherwise, as you suggested before," O'Neill said. "What? Someone has to play devil's advocate!"

Sam nodded slowly. "Yes... no, I don't think it's been years."

"Which means most of what we think has happened, has happened," Daniel said. "It's probably two thousand and fourteen, at least."

"No, assuming we can trust _any_ of our memories, then it can't be more than February two thousand and three," Sam decided.

"Because I still have my symbiote," Teal'c said.

"Right."

"In that case it also can't be earlier than, uh, early in the year two thousand," Daniel pointed out. "Since I've got the scar from when they removed my appendix."

"And that means we what? Hallucinated thirteen years? Just like that? In a few weeks or months?" O'Neill said, clearly unconvinced.

"Why not? Think of dreams. They go much faster than reality. Partially, I suppose, because you don't dream that you're asleep, and so on, but the time just doesn't flow as linearly in your dreams. It could very well be the same inside the hallucination," Sam explained.

O'Neill groaned. "Stop! You're making my head hurt! Okay! Say I believe all this. We can't prove it, so there's no reason to talk about it further until we've got our hands on a newspaper or something. That will tell us the date."

"Agreed," Sam said.

O'Neill scratched his cheek, and realized something else. "No beard. _None_ of us have a beard! Why is that, if it's been many months?"

"Something in the alien drug must have inhibited growth of facial hair. Possibly because smooth skin gives a better connection for the part of the device that was placed against your chin," Sam speculated.

O'Neill took a deep breath, then nodded. "Right. That's possible."

"We should make plans for contacting our superiors," Teal'c said.

"Or what to do if the aliens have infiltrated the whole planet," Daniel added.

"Let's hope that's not the case!" O'Neill said, with empathy. "Anyway, as I said; first order of business should be getting a different car." He turned the car from the gravel road out onto the paved road.

"Different clothes too. They're probably looking for us, so the more we can conceal ourselves, the better," Sam pointed out.

"Right, I saw a sign for a city a few miles back along the road. Hopefully we'll soon reach it. It's the middle of the night, so with any luck we can avoid being detected," O'Neill said.


	3. Gathering Supplies

The members of SG-1 had snuck from where they had parked their car, to some large buildings they had noticed in a mostly deserted part of the city. There they had spent some time checking out the place.

"Looks like storehouses of some kind - and no one's around, except for one guard who passes by on his rounds once every 30 minutes. Let's see if we can get inside and find out if there is something we can use," O'Neill suggested when the guard had disappeared around the corner.

"Wait!" Teal'c told them. "The area is under surveillance!" He waited until the guard had gotten further away, then picked up a rock and weighed it briefly in his hand, then threw it hard at a camera on the wall.

The rock hit the camera, and smashed it.

"Good job, Teal'c! It was pointing directly at the entrance, so we'd have been caught on it otherwise," O'Neill said, relief clear in his voice.

They spent a few more minutes surveying the area, but none of them discovered anything else. As silently as possible, they snuck up to the back entrance of the warehouse.

"Locked," Daniel told them, after trying the handle. "Figures."

"And I don't have my lock-picking tools on me," Sam said.

"Damn! We can't get the door open before the guard returns!" O'Neill exclaimed. He threw a look at the guard's car that was parked at the edge of the lot. "I may have an idea - it's a bit crazy."

"Right now crazy is good. What?" Sam asked, rubbing her arms in the cold, taking care not to touch the area around where she was injured.

"You _probably_ won't like it..."

* * *

"You're damn right I don't like this!" Sam told them, as they all stood beside the guard's car. "It's cold, foggy, and my arms are bare. I'm _freezing_ and you want me to seduce the guard?"

"Just keep him distracted until we can knock him out, okay?" O'Neill insisted, then added, "Sorry."

Sam rolled her eyes. " _Okay_. He'll think I'm crazy, though."

The others hurried to a nearby container and hid behind it, while Sam leaned against the guard's car and tried to look suave and alluring - which was pretty hard when you were cold, wet, and in pain.

The guard appeared around the corner a few moments later, and he spotted Sam almost immediately. He stopped for a moment and stared, clearly surprised by the sight of a woman leaning against his car in this weather and time of night.

"What are you _doing_ here?" he asked, walking towards Sam.

"Hello... big boy," Sam said, feeling like rolling her eyes at herself. "Could you give me a ride?"

"A _ride_?" The guard looked at her, frowning. "Are you all right, miss?"

"I hurt my arm," Sam said, truthfully, desperately looking for a way to get him close enough that her teammates could surprise him.

"Your arm? Let me take a look at it," the guard said, his expression softening as he walked up to her.

He had only just reached the car when Teal'c silently appeared from behind the container and put an arm around the neck of the guard, strangling him. The guard struggled briefly, then went unconscious. Teal'c lowered him to the ground.

"Very nice. Let's tie him up before he wakes up," O'Neill said. "And get his keys - there's probably one for the back entrance to the warehouse, if we're lucky."

* * *

"Seems peaceful enough," Sam whispered. "Come on."

Daniel followed, as did Teal'c - carrying the guard who was by now squirming.

"Okay - and no windows." O'Neill pulled the door closed after them. "We can turn on the light without anyone getting suspicious." He felt for a switch by the door, and after a few moments the complete darkness was exchanged for brilliant electric light.

"We should probably hurry up before he's missed," Daniel observed, looking at the guard that Teal'c had placed on the floor, against the wall by the door.

The guard was gagged and blindfolded, and his feet and hands were bound, so there was little risk he would get free.

"I will remain here and make sure he does not escape," Teal'c said, anyway.

"Good idea, you can never be too careful. We'll be quick," O'Neill said.

"What kind of warehouse is this?" Daniel wondered, looking around at the crates and shelves.

They all started checking the shelves, as well as some of the crates that were not nailed shut.

"Looks like sporting goods," Sam offered. "And general outdoor gear."

"Yeah, and hunting and fishing equipment - including clothing. Pretty lucky, considering we need something warm and dry to wear!" O'Neill added. "We better hurry - no way of knowing when the guard is supposed to check in."

They quickly went through the shelves and picked out suitable clothing for all four of them. There was both clothing specifically for hunting and fishing, and clothing that look more like regular clothing. In the interest of fitting in, SG-1 choose from the latter type. They picked a couple of changes of clothing, as well as both boots and shoes.

"What about weapons?" Daniel suggested. "Shouldn't we see if they've got something we can use to defend ourselves with?"

"Absolutely," O'Neill agreed. "We should get knives and guns."

"I need something to use for lock-picking as well - and whatever else we need if we're going to steal another car," Sam said.

They found what they needed, including first aid kits, camping gear, and even some emergency rations and other food.

"Hey, guys?" Daniel called.

"What is it?" O'Neill asked.

"Come see this," Daniel said.

"We don't have the time to hang around - we don't want to risk someone showing up!" O'Neill warned, going towards where Teal'c were watching the guard. .

"I really think you wanna see this," Daniel said, taking something from the wall and walking over to O'Neill.

Sam joined them, and looked at what Daniel had. "A calendar!"

"Yes." Daniel nodded. "And it's opened on 'October 2000'."

"We actually _hallucinated_ fifteen years?" O'Neill asked, disbelieving.

"Impressive," Teal'c said.

"It does fit with what we've learned," Sam said.

O'Neill groaned. "And it also means almost every Goa'uld - and most of our other enemies - are still alive!"

"It _did_ seem as if we were being far too successful at killing them off - given how long the Tok'ra and the Asgard had fought the Goa'uld, I mean," Daniel observed.

"Well, maybe we were just that good? Or lucky. Lucky is good too," O'Neill said. He sighed. "But you're right. In _hindsight_ it _did_ seem a bit unlikely, I guess."

"Not to mention that Earth went from being completely overpowered to being a major galactic player, in just fifteen years. Yeah, I agree. It just doesn't make sense that anyone could do that." Sam shook her head. "We must have been crazy to have believed it."

"Let's finish gathering the stuff we need, then we can discuss this later," O'Neill decided. "We should grab some backpacks as well, in case we need to ditch the car later."

* * *

Overloaded with stuff, they returned to where they had parked their car. It was by now early morning, but they were lucky and did not meet anyone.

"Where do we find another car?" Daniel wondered.

"Maybe along one of the streets in a residential neighborhood. It's still early, and there aren't many people out," Sam suggested.

"It _is_ very quiet, but I think we should get out of town before people start waking up. We'll hide somewhere, lie low until tomorrow night, and then see what we can find," O'Neill suggested. "Daniel - grab us some of those energy bars we found at the store."

"Sure." Daniel handed them each one of the bars, and they wolfed them down while O'Neill drove the car out of the city, and onto a road going through a heavily forested terrain.

* * *

They had found a secluded spot, and had spent much of the day sleeping. After performing his kel'no'reem, Teal'c had kept guard.

When darkness was falling, they were all feeling much better than they had the day before, though Sam's arm was aching badly.

"We should get going. It's probably not a good idea to stay too long in the same place," O'Neill said.

"You really think they're still looking for us?" Daniel wondered.

"Oh, yeah. _That_ I'm sure of. We know about their little operation, and they're not about to let us get away and tell someone."

"If there's anyone left to tell," Daniel said. "Maybe everyone else has already been captured and replaced."

"Could you _be_ any less optimistic?" O'Neill grumbled.

"We know the guard was human, at least," Sam reminded them, as she found some pain killers in one of the medkits they had gotten the night before.

"Can we be sure?" Daniel asked.

"Yes, he cut himself on the hand, and I saw the blood. He's human," Sam insisted, swallowing a pill with some water.

"Of course he is! If those aliens had already taken over everyone everywhere, they wouldn't care if we got away! In fact, they wouldn't care to keep any of us captured. They'd just kill us! They only need us for infiltration purposes, which means they must still be putting their occupation into work," O'Neill said. "We just need to avoid those people who are really alien infiltrators, then we should be good."

Sam nodded. "I agree."

"I wonder why they kept you and Teal'c?" Daniel said. "I mean, it was only because you guys woke up that the rest of us could escape."

"Yes, if it's like it was the first time, then the aliens couldn't clone our minds, or tap into our personalities and memories. Something to do with the presence of a symbiote in Teal'c's case, and with changes done by Jolinar in my case," Sam observed.

"Right. So why keep you?" Daniel wondered.

"Presumably because of that shared hallucination - or simulation, or whatever. If Teal'c and I just disappeared, it might make someone suspicious, and maybe the aliens couldn't risk that. Perhaps it could make you guys... I don't know, agitated? Cause you to wake up easier? Make it harder to tap your minds?" Sam shrugged helplessly, then winced as pain from her injured arm seared through her.

"They'll be unhappy now, then! With all four of us missing!" Daniel said.

"Which is one more reason they'll be trying their damndest to capture us. Come on," O'Neill decided.

"Teal'c?" Daniel asked, suddenly noticing how quiet their friend was. "What's wrong?"

"My people are no longer free - or to be more precise, they never _were_ free. There is no tretonin," Teal'c said. "It was all a... dream."

"I'm sorry, Teal'c," Daniel said, realizing.

O'Neill slapped him on the shoulder. "It doesn't mean the Jaffa will never be free."

"General O'Neill... I mean, _Colonel_ O'Neill." Sam gave him a sheepish smile, "is right, Teal'c. The Jaffa _will_ become free. It may just take a little longer."

"Thank you," Teal'c said, eventually.

They were all back in the car, and O'Neill started it. "Never thought I'd be demoted."

"What?" Sam asked.

"Didn't think I'd ever be a General either." He smiled "Not that I ever _was_ a General, not really. I'm a Colonel." His smile grew wider. "It feels good, actually."

Sam nodded. "Yes. And I'm a Major." She half-smiled. "I'm not in command of a large warship with the ability of intergalactic travel."

"Many things to get used to," Daniel said. "It's certainly confusing." He was silent for a long time while they drove on. "But I must admit that being back on a mission with you guys is great. _Despite_ the situation, I mean."

"Daniel! Our _planet_ is in danger!" Sam exclaimed.

"But he's right. It's good to be back together," O'Neill said, grinning.

"Indeed," Teal'c added.

Sam shook her head at them, then smiled. "It is. I missed you guys!"

* * *

"You think you can pick the lock?" O'Neill asked.

"Absolutely. It's not the newest model, so it should be pretty easy," Sam insisted. She worked for a few moments on the car, using some of the equipment she had gotten from the warehouse the night before. The lock knob suddenly popped up and she opened the door. "What did I say?"

"Amazing!" Daniel said, grinning.

Sam got into the seat beside the driver's seat, and unlocked the other doors, then started working on the ignition. She grimaced when her injured arm throbbed worse when she tried to loosen a screw. "Teal'c, could you remove the plastic trim?" She pointed at the steering wheel and held out a screw driver. "I can't get to the ignition switch."

"Certainly." He leaned over and tore off the piece of plastic with little problem.

"Um, thanks." She looked at the broken plastic. "Okay, I guess it doesn't matter."

"We are in a hurry, are we not?" Teal'c asked, mock serious.

O'Neill grinned. "You heard the man! Get working!"

"Yes, sir." Sam shook her head as she loosened a couple other screws, including those that mounted the ignition switch to the steering column. A short while later she inserted a flat-head screwdriver into the keyhole and turned it. The car started on the second try.

" _Wonderful_! Let's get going!" O'Neill said.

"Quickly!" Teal'c added. "Someone is coming!" He slid into the driver's seat.

Daniel and O'Neill hurried into the backseat, shutting the door behind them as an angry voice shouted after them. Teal'c accelerated the car and they left the angry owner behind.

"We lost them," Daniel said, after looking out the back window.

"We'll still need to change cars again soon," O'Neill observed. He sighed. "It's well after midnight. It's doubtful we're in any danger until tomorrow."

"In which direction should we go?" Teal'c asked, slowing down when they approached an intersection.

They studied the signs, showing distances to the nearest or larger cities.

"Fairbanks, I guess?" O'Neill suggested. "We're going south in any case."

"We should head for Colorado Springs, eventually, shouldn't we?" Daniel said.

"Agreed, but it may not be an easy trip - depending on how much of the country the aliens hold," O'Neill said.

"Well, in any case, it looks as if they still have to keep under the radar, using the mimic devices and infiltration," Sam observed. "Which brings me to something else. We need to see if we can build an interference device. Like the one we used to expose them before."

"Right. Where do you think we could get the equipment? Radioshack?" O'Neill asked.

Sam nodded. "Most likely, yes." She hesitated," There's one thing, though... the aliens have probably made changes to avoid anyone doing what we did. We may not be able to get it to work directly, but I am confident we will eventually."

"Okay, well, as long as you get it to work, it sounds good."

"Which also means we need to capture someone to test it on," Sam said, slowly.

"That... could be a problem," O'Neill said.

"Particularly since we do not know who is human and who is not," Teal'c added.

* * *

It was early morning when they approached Fairbanks, after another change of cars. This time no one had seen them, and since the car was of a very common make, they hoped they would not be discovered.

"Well, everything _looks_ normal," Sam said. "I was here years ago... I mean, um, _months_ ago, with dad. After Netu, you know." She smiled sheepishly.

"Right. You _did_ go to Alaska after that trip." Daniel nodded.

"I wish we knew _someone_ it was safe to contact!" O'Neill said. "As it is, we should stay as inconspicuous as possible, and gather all the intel we can."

"Maybe we should begin by finding a newspaper, then?" Daniel suggested. "It might give us _some_ idea of what's going on."

"Good idea. Too bad we don't have any money," O'Neill observed.

"Maybe we do. Wait a moment while I check the glove compartment," Sam said. Finding it locked, she broke it open with little trouble, using a screwdriver. She still winced when a stab of pain seared through her upper arm.

"Anything useful?" Daniel asked.

"Possibly..." Sam rummaged around for a little while, taking care to only use her good arm. She pulled out a couple maps, a notebook with a pen attached, an owner's manual, and some other papers. She next found a bag of hard candies, a flashlight, and finally a small purse, which she opened. "Let's see..." She poured out the contents, mostly small bills and coins. "21 dollar and 79 cents," she told them, when she had counted the money.

"Great! More than enough for a newspaper!" O'Neill smiled.

"And maybe some bagels and hot coffee for breakfast later?" Daniel suggested.

"As wonderful as that sounds, it's probably better to save the money for later. Don't forget; we've got emergency rations." Sam grimaced. "And we need the money for electronics I can use to build a device that can interfere with the aliens mimetic devices."

"Emergency rations, then. _Yummy_ ," Daniel said, sighing.

"Oh, we've got a whole box of energy bars as well!" O'Neill grinned.

Sam rolled her eyes, but smiled. She handed O'Neill the money, and he got out to pick up a newspaper from a newspaper vending machine nearby.

* * *

"Look! You've become an advisor to the president, Jack!" Daniel exclaimed, pointing at the news article.

O'Neill stared at the picture in disbelief, then reread the headline before glancing over the text of the article.

"If that's one of the aliens, then we're in serious trouble," Sam said.

"What do you mean 'if'? Of _course_ it's one of the aliens! It's obviously not me!" O'Neill exclaimed. "We're so screwed if they've even got people there! I wonder how many they've got in the Congress?"

"Who knows. Several, probably," Sam said, somberly. "We should probably assume the Air Force is infiltrated as well." She shook a couple painkillers out of a bottle and swallowed them with some water.

"Oh, and we know the exact date - today is October 5th, 2000," Daniel pointed out.

"There is a man standing at the corner of the street. He has been looking at us for several minutes," Teal'c suddenly said.

The others looked up and out through the front window of the car. There was indeed someone looking at them, maybe 50 feet away. He left hurriedly when he realized they had seen him.

" _Damn_!" O'Neill exclaimed. "We'd better get out of here, and quickly!"

Teal'c started the car, and they left, in the opposite direction of where the man had gone.

"Do you really think that guy was looking for us? That they've got a warrant out for us or something?" Sam asked.

O'Neill considered it. "Not by name, they can't do that - and probably not for me, if I'm the president's advisor."

"Unless you're reported as abducted by the rest of us," Sam suddenly suggested.

"Yeah..." O'Neill looked unhappy. "I suppose that's possible."

"We better hope not! Wouldn't that mean they can call in the national guard to catch us?" Daniel said, horrified.

O'Neill shrugged. "Don't know. In any case, we should assume our likeness have been shared with a number of people who are on the look-out."

"Time to get yet another car?" Sam asked, rhetorically.


	4. On the Run

"I never thought I'd be an infamous car thief," Daniel grumbled, when they were driving through the outer parts of Fairbanks in yet another car.

"I don't think you're qualifying as 'infamous' just yet," Sam said with a half-smile. "Colonel, we should try to get hold of components to make a disruption device as soon as possible. We need to be able to tell if someone is a human or not."

"I agree - especially if we are going to try and make contact with anyone we know," O'Neill said. "We should see if we can find an electronics store we can, uh, 'borrow' from."

"Too bad we can't just fly to Colorado Springs," Daniel observed, noticing a sign for the airport.

"Over there - a Radioshack!" Sam exclaimed, pointing. "Turn back, Teal'c!"

"Of course, Major Carter." Teal'c turned the car around.

They drove into the dark, deserted parking lot of the store, and parked the car at the far end of the lot, behind some containers.

"Okay, let's take a look," O'Neill decided. "What's a little breaking and entering, after all the card thefts?"

They slowly, cautiously, walked up to the building. They could see no one else nearby, and it did not look as if there were any surveillance cameras.

On the back of the building, they found a door, which Sam started picking the lock of.

"Can you get it open?" Daniel asked.

"Of course," Sam insisted. She worked for a few moments longer, and then she smiled as she unlocked the door. "Open."

" _Nice_!" O'Neill grinned and entered the building first, cautiously and with his weapon and flashlight raised.

Sam followed, then Daniel, with Teal'c making up the rear.

They went through a short corridor, with several doors leading out from it. The first one they entered lead to what was obviously a break room.

"There's a refrigerator. Why don't we check and see if there's any food?" Daniel suggested. "Rations and energy bars get boring real fast."

"Agreed. Check the shelves too," O'Neill said. "Teal'c, stay here and help him, and watch out for anything - Carter, come with me. We'll see if we can find those electronic components you need."

"Okay, Jack," Daniel said.

"Yes, sir." Sam followed him out the room, and into the one across the corridor.

"Some sort of storage, I think," O'Neill observed, letting his flashlight play over the many shelves that could be seen from the entrance.

Sam entered after him. "Looks like I might find what I'm looking for here." She began checking the shelves for the needed components.

"Okay, I'll stand guard." He looked around uncomfortably. "Please hurry up. I have a bad feeling about this."

Perhaps five minutes later, Teal'c entered the room, walking briskly. "O'Neill, I hear sirens, possibly from police cars."

" _Dammit_!" O'Neill exclaimed. "We must have triggered some sort of silent alarm! Carter! Grab what you've got. We're leaving!" He rushed out the door to see Daniel packing some stuff into a grocery bag in the room across. "Daniel! Hurry up!"

"I know! I heard! I'm just..."

"No, _now_!" O'Neill ordered.

They could all hear the sirens approaching now

Sam appeared from the storage room carrying a large box. "I have one more box with some stuff I need."

O'Neill grabbed the box from her. "Get it then. _Quickly_!"

She did, and they all ran for the back entrance. O'Neill pushed the door handle with his elbow and kicked the door open with his foot, not wanting to waste time by putting the box down on the floor.

The door hit something, and there was a loud cry of pain. When SG-1 exited the building, they saw a policeman sitting on the ground, holding on to his nose. He looked up at them, pain and anger in his eyes.

"Lucky," O'Neill said. "I mean, _oops_!"

Teal'c grabbed the policeman, who had just managed to stagger to his feet, and quickly put an arm around his neck and squeezed, rendering him unconscious. He lowered him to the ground.

"That's a nice touch you have there, Teal'c!" O'Neill had put his box down on the ground, and now snatched the policeman's sidearm. "Come - let's get out of here before any more cops show up."

They grabbed their stuff and hurried to the car. They had only just loaded the boxes and the bag into the car, when an angry voice shouted at them from the backdoor of the radio store. It was another policeman who had parked at the front of the store, and had made it to the back when he heard noise.

"Stop _immediately_ and surrender yourself!" he shouted.

O'Neill fired a few shots in the air above him, and the man ran for safety. SG-1 took the opportunity to get into their car and leave.

* * *

"That cop got a good look at us. With today's newspaper containing a huge picture with me and the president, I think we can safely assume he recognized me and will report it," O'Neill said, as he turned the car out from the parking lot and onto the road.

"Probably," Sam agreed. "If that's the case, we're in trouble. As you said, if the aliens report it as you having been abducted by Daniel, Teal'c, and myself, then the police will be looking for us. _Everywhere_. It won't be easy to get to Stargate Command."

O'Neill nodded. "Exactly."

"We should exchange this vehicle for a different one," Teal'c said.

" _Another_ car theft?" Daniel groaned.

"At least I got all the parts I need to construct a disruptor to cause interference in the mimetic devices," Sam said. "As soon as I can get one put together, we should find someone to test it on."

"Capture an alien?" Daniel asked. "How will we know it _is_ an alien?"

"Well, I guess that _is_ a problem." Sam sighed. "Unless we get lucky, somehow."

Daniel nodded. "By the way, when I went through the shelves and cupboard in the store's lunchroom, I found some money in a jar. Probably the place they're saving funds for cookies, or candy, or whatever. Fairly much money too - I counted it to thirty four dollars and twenty seven cents."

"That's great! Together with the money we have from before, we've got more than fifty dollars!" O'Neill commented, pleased.

"Right. That's more than enough for one night at a cheap motel. We could get some sleep in a bed, get a bath," Daniel suggested.

"I believe there is a car following us," Teal'c told them, interrupting their discussion.

O'Neill quickly made a sharp turn, almost too late, onto a sideroad. "Check if he follows."

"He does."

"Damn!" O'Neill made another turn, and the car again did the same. "I better see if I can lose him." He sped up and turned back onto a larger road, where there was some traffic. Hopefully that would help block their follower, or at least slow them down somewhat.

* * *

"I think we lost him," Daniel said, relief in his voice.

"Maybe..." O'Neill said, hesitantly. He looked in the mirror. "On second thought, no!" He quickly turned off the highway and onto a smaller sideroad. He turned several more times, and they were now following a road along the west side of the river. It was significantly less trafficked out here, especially as late at night as it was.

They had quickly passed through some sparsely populated areas outside Fairbanks, and now drove through a terrain dominated by birch forest and wetland.

"The car is still behind us - and it is accelerating!" Sam warned.

With no other traffic on the road, it was difficult to evade the other car, which was newer and could drive faster.

"We shouldn't have left the city!" Daniel exclaimed when the car behind them was suddenly almost upon them. It sped up further and rammed into them from behind. "We _definitely_ shouldn't!"

O'Neill stepped on the speeder, attempting to go faster, but their enemy was soon at their side, trying to run them off the road.

"Careful, O'Neill!" Teal'c warned. "The road is curving sharply up ahead."

"I _know_ , Teal'c!" O'Neill uttered from between clenched teeth. He turned haphazardly, but made it through the curve without driving into the ditch. It was a near thing, though.

The enemy car kept driving dangerously close, now and then outright ramming into them, and they swerved back and forth across the road. It was fortunate there was no other traffic, or they might have hit another car.

"Watch out!" Sam suddenly shouted. "A deer!"

O'Neill narrowly avoided the animal, but was not able to get the car under control in time to stop them from driving off the road. He desperately tried to steer them back, but the enemy car prevented that. Soon they were going at a high-speed over bumpy terrain, on a collision course with a dark mass which quickly revealed itself to be low trees and bushes.

" _Stop_!" Daniel exclaimed. "We're going to hit..."

* * *

Sam groggily woke to the sound of an angry voice. It was followed by other noises, and then a scream. She opened her eyes, but could see little in the dark, overcast night. She tried to sit up straight, and cried out when she moved her injured arm. It was hurting even more than before.

"What?" a voice asked nearby. It sounded confused. "What happened?"

"Colonel," Sam said. "Daniel? Teal'c?" she asked, starting to remember.

"Teal'c is fighting our attackers," Daniel told her, from the back seat.

"Our _attacker_. There was only one," Teal'c said, approaching outside in the darkness.

Sam tried pushing her door open, using her good arm, but it was stuck.

"You okay, T?" O'Neill asked, opening the door on his side.

"I am fine, O'Neill," Teal'c said. "The attacker, however, is not. He was unwilling to yield, and attempted to stab me with a knife. He is dead."

O'Neill nodded. "I understand." He sighed. "It wasn't your fault Teal'c, but we'd better get out of here before anyone he might have informed comes to find us."

"Teal'c, was he human?" Sam asked.

"He was," Teal'c confirmed.

"Okay, let's grab as much as we can carry, and then get out of here," O'Neill decided, getting out of the car. "Euch, the car is sitting in a swamp, or something!" He pulled his foot out of the mushy ground outside.

"Right. I think there's a river or something further from the road. I saw glimpses of it earlier," Sam said.

The car was pressed up against a thicket of low birch trees on the right side, so Daniel had to scoot across the backseat and out on the other side. "Are you coming, Sam?" he asked when he was outside.

"Yeah, I am." Sam groaned. "Just a moment."

"Problems, Carter?" O'Neill wondered, concern in his voice.

"No, sir. It's just that my injured arm got bumped when we hit those trees. Makes it a bit harder to crawl across the front seats." She used her good arm to lift herself across to the driver's seat, where O'Neill and Teal'c helped her the rest of the way out.

"We'd better take a look at that wound," O'Neill said.

"Not now. As you said, we're in a hurry, and it's not that bad," Sam insisted.

O'Neill gave her a sceptical look, but nodded. "Okay. Grab your gear, folks! We're moving out in five!"

"We need to bring the components for the disruption device," Sam reminded them, when they handed her one of the backpacks.

"Pick out the ones you _absolutely_ need, and we'll see if we can fit them in the bags," O'Neill said.

"There's also the food I found in the lunchroom," Daniel reminded them.

"Sorry, Daniel. Emergency rations and protein bars will have to do. They take up less room," O'Neill decided.

They quickly packed, and soon they were ready to leave.

"Where are we even going?" Daniel wondered.

"Away from here," O'Neill said, looking at the compass they had gotten in the hunting store. It was a good thing it was fluorescent, given how dark it was. "The river is east of here, and we don't want to get back to the city, so I guess south is the only option."

They set out across the wetland, trying to steer clear of the most swampy areas and stick to the forest.

* * *

They had walked maybe ten minutes when they heard sirens in the distance.

"The police," Teal'c said.

Sam shook her head and mumbled to herself, "I never thought I'd be running from the police! Like a _criminal_!"

"Hurry up! It looks like the forest is denser up ahead!" O'Neill urged. "We can hide in there."

Daniel made a gasp as he stepped in a hole. "It's pitch black! I can't even see my feet! Who cares where we hide? Why can't we just, oh, stand out here in the open? No one would know anyway!"

"Dawn is only maybe three hours away," Sam reminded him. "We don't want to be caught out in the open _then_."

"Especially not with Teal'c being the only one who isn't weak as a kitten," O'Neill grumbled, mostly to himself, since he was angry over being out of breath after such a short walk.

There was the sound of a branch snapping and then Sam let out a surprised cry, fortunately managing to keep her voice down. She fell face-first into the mud. "Ouch!"

"Sam?" Daniel asked, worried.

"You okay, Carter?" O'Neill wondered. He and Teal'c had gotten a bit ahead, and now returned to check on their teammate.

Sam groaned as she slowly got back on her feet, helped by Daniel. "I'll be fine, sir."

They hurried further into the forest, just as rain began to fall. It was denser here, and a mix of birch trees and pine trees.

As unpleasantly wet and cold as it was now, it might be to their advantage, since it meant their tracks would be hidden.

* * *

Sam shivered and looked up from where they had all huddled together under the root of a fallen tree. The rain had stopped, but a thick fog lay now over the area. The Sun had risen a short time ago, and had not yet been able to chase it away.

"It's cold," Daniel complained, pulling the blanket closer around him.

Sam nodded. "Yes, I think the temperature only needs to fall another few degrees, and then it would have been sleet instead of rain."

"We'd better get up and get going," O'Neill said. "Teal'c?"

"Here, O'Neill," Teal'c said, walking over to them from where he had been keeping guard.

"Don't you need to kel'no'reem?" Daniel asked. He was _almost_ warm as long as he stayed under the blanket and close to the others, and just like Sam and O'Neill, he was weak from their time with the aliens, and got exhausted quickly. Right now he wanted only to sleep, and he was almost at the point where he did not care if the aliens caught him.

"It can wait," Teal'c told him. "I have not heard anyone nearby. It is my belief that we are safe, at least for now."

O'Neill nodded. "Good. Carter - let's take a quick look at your arm before we leave."

"It's really not necessary," Sam said. "You changed the bandage a few hours ago. We should get going." She shuddered. "Maybe we can get these damp clothes dry if we move."

The bump she had gotten when their car crashed had caused the wound to reopen, and the bandage had been soaked in blood - and mud from when she fell - when they changed it several hours before, when they had found the tree root where they had hid.

"All right," O'Neill said, hesitantly. "Let's get going, then. Right now we just need to get as far from here as possible - and preferably in a mostly southern direction."


	5. Still On the Run - and Some Contemplations

"Any idea where we are?" Daniel wondered, when they had walked for a couple hours through the forest.

"Well, the river is called Tanana," Sam said. "Dad and I actually went for a trek through these woods when we were here. We stayed in a bed and breakfast near the highway." She pointed. "Somewhere in that direction. The highway, I mean."

"Any guesses on the distance?" O'Neill asked. "Or exact direction? We need to get a car some place." He frowned. "No, we can't risk it. Not in a place so close to where they will be looking for us, and especially not during daytime."

Sam thought about it for a moment. "I _think_ we're 4-5 miles from the highway, if I'm right about the distance to the river from here, but I can't really say for sure. It should be almost exactly north-east of here."

"Okay, that's good enough. What's the nearest city _if_ we followed the highway? Which we aren't going to, of course - there's probably cops everywhere."

"There's an inn near the bed and breakfast where we stayed, but to get to an actually _town_ , I think you'll have to get to... Nenana, I think it was called. That's probably 25 miles from here. At _least_."

O'Neill grimaced. "That's a bit more than I'd hoped."

"Especially since we're still so weak it's taken us twice as long as it normally would to get there," Daniel complained. "How long is it going to _take_?"

"Before we're back to normal strength?" Sam said. "Probably several months, but it should get better gradually."

" _Wonderful_!" Daniel grumbled.

"Cheer up! You're right we're going slower than normal, and we have to take more breaks, but that means we'll probably arrive in Nenana, or whatever Carter called the town, around midnight or a little after. That's pretty much perfect!" O'Neill said. "Besides, the sun is shining and it's _almost_ warm."

Daniel gave him a tired smile. "Okay. You're right." He touched his jacket. "Our clothes are almost dry, so I guess it could be worse."

"Yup, think of it as, as a picnic." O'Neill grinned.

Sam rolled her eyes, but smiled. "Complete with alien invaders instead of ants, or what?"

"There are some large rocks over there. Perhaps we should take the opportunity and use them to sit on and get something to eat?" Teal'c suggested.

"Not a bad idea," O'Neill agreed.

"It's a _great_ idea," Daniel said, smiling at him.

Sam nodded. "Yes, it almost looks warm."

They went to sit down, letting their large backpacks slide to the ground beside them. Sam winced visibly when her bag brushed against her injured arm.

"Sam?" Daniel said.

"I'm fine - it's just because it got bumped in the car." She found the glass of painkillers in her pocket and shook out a couple of them and swallowed them with some water from her canteen.

"How many have you taken of those?" Daniel wondered.

"I've got it under control," Sam assured him. "Stop worrying. You know I need to take more of most drugs for them to work, because of the changes from Jolinar."

"Perhaps we should examine the wound," Teal'c said.

"We definitely should. Sit down and let me take a look at it, Carter. And that's an _order_ ," O'Neill insisted.

* * *

"Too bad we don't have a needle. If I did, I'd like to put in some new stitches. Looks like they've ripped a bit," O'Neill said, inspecting Sam's wound.

"It's stopped bleeding. I can manage until we get somewhere we can do something more about it," Sam said.

O'Neill nodded. "Right." He wrapped a fresh bandage around it, hoping the wound would not get infected.

Daniel handed them each a sandwich. "See? I managed to fit one for us each. I got them in the lunchroom at Radioshack. Aren't you happy about that now?"

"We are," Teal'c said, accepting one of the sandwiches, looking closely at it.

"It's turkey," Daniel told him.

"Thank you." Teal'c smiled, pleased his friend remembered his preference.

They each sat back on the rocks and munched at their food, allowing themselves to relax for the first time since they had escaped from the alien complex. The sun was shining, and it was almost warm where they sat, since the trees provided shelter for the wind.

"This is actually nice," Daniel said, leaning contentedly back against a tree when he had eaten his sandwich.

"Less talk, more sleeping," O'Neill mumbled, his eyes closed and an almost happy expression on his face.

"I'll keep guard, then you can do your kel'no'reem," Sam said.

"You should take the opportunity to rest, Major Carter. I do not need to kel'no'reem right now," Teal'c said.

Sam looked closely at him. "Maybe you are able to survive without it, but I bet you would feel better if you did, so please do. I can't sleep until my painkillers kick in anyway."

Teal'c nodded. "As you wish."

* * *

"Sam?" Daniel said, walking over to where his friend was sitting. "Aren't you going to get some sleep?"

Sam sighed and smiled tiredly at Daniel. "I'm tired, and I know I should get a bit of sleep, but I don't think I can right now."

"Your arm?"

"That too, but it's not the main reason." She took a deep breath. "I'm thinking about this situation we're in."

Daniel nodded. "I'm worried about the aliens too. I'm sure we all are. I wonder how long they have been here?"

"Yes. I have been thinking of the same, trying to remember what happened in the year 2000. Well, _now_." She sighed again. "I _really_ hate not being able to rely on my memory!"

"It's so confusing," Daniel agreed. ""Well, I remember that I had an appendectomy early February, and then there was the official signing of the Tok'ra-Tau'ri alliance in late July."

"Yes, thank you. "I remember that," Sam said dryly.

"Sorry. Because of, because of what happened to Martouf of course."

"Yes." Sam was silent for a long time, clearly saddened. She pushed the dark thoughts aside. "Well, many of the people who we thought had died, are alive. No reason Martouf couldn't be, though I guess that's less likely, given the fairly small amount of time we've probably been in the hallucination. Janet, on the other hand, is most likely alive."

"Right." Daniel smiled. "She's probably in that alien facility, but probably alive. So's your dad."

"Yes, almost certainly." She frowned. "I wonder if he's still on that mission you and I interrupted, to get him to come save Teal'c and the Colonel." She shook her head. "Of course, he may never have been on that mission. _Damn_! If we only knew _when_ we were put in that cursed hallucination!"

"You said it couldn't be too long ago," Daniel reminded.

"No more than a few months." Sam nodded slowly. "However, I've been thinking... in hindsight there are some things that seems strange."

"Strange?"

"Yes, about us, our behaviour, about some of the missions. I'm wondering if that's because they were dreamt up. For instance, do you remember that Jaffa priestess, Shau'nac, who thought she had converted her symbiote?"

"Tanith. Of course."

"Well, don't you think it's strange how hostile we were towards the Tok'ra? Particularly the Colonel, who was barely civil during most of that mission. He even accused the Tok'ra of using us and not giving us anything in return."

"Sam, I know you have a, a _special_ relationship with the Tok'ra because of your dad, and Jolinar, and I do agree that they have helped us many times, but they _do_ have a tendency to be, ah, a bit arrogant. They've also held back information and been unwilling or difficult to get to help, even when humans were in danger."

"Thing is, Daniel, I'm not sure that is true. Yes, they can be arrogant, they clearly have a bit of a superiority complex, and they perhaps haven't always been as forthcoming as we'd like, but isn't most of that something that's happened - or _not_ \- in the time we have hallucinated?"

Daniel was quiet for a long moment. "You may be right. Aside from the very first time we met them, I don't actually remember any major issues."

"Not until that time with Shau'nac," Sam said.

"So _maybe_ that didn't happen." He frowned.

"That's not the only thing. A couple weeks before that, Anise came to us with those Atanik armbands. Now I can accept that they could somehow make us stronger, faster, more intelligent - to a degree. However, they made us able to see the oscillation intervals of a forceshield and run so fast we could move through it during those intervals! That's just not _possible_ , Daniel! There is _no_ way our bodies could have been made to do that!"

"It does sound, well, _improbable_ ," Daniel agreed. "So, what are you saying? That never happened? Anise never brought us those armbands? Or does she exist at all?"

Sam nodded. "She exists. Jolinar knew her, and they didn't always get along well. Jolinar found Anise to be rather... abrasive. Which is actually kind of hilarious, given that Jolinar could be _very_ direct." She shook her head. "I don't know if Anise came to talk to us, or if she brought those armbands and they just wasn't _quite_ as effective as we imagined, or what. I guess we could have hallucinated all of it, using my memories from Jolinar as a base. There is no way to know."

"In that case we should stop worrying about it right now. I agree that we need to know what is real and not, what has happened and not, but right now we should focus on getting away from where the aliens are looking for us."

"Which is probably the entire northern american continent, if not more," Sam said. She yawned.

"You really should try and get some sleep before we continue," Daniel said, concern for his friend showing clearly on his face.

"Maybe I will. In a little while." She looked towards where O'Neill was sleeping against a tree, the Sun warming down on him. "How can he just sleep like that?"

Daniel grinned. "Yeah, I ask myself the same." He frowned. "Uh, Sam? In the, the hallucination, there were some times when you seemed, well, as if you were having feelings for Jack."

Sam groaned. "Thanks for reminding me! I was hoping never to have to think of that again!"

"Sorry. So it wasn't real, I take it?"

"No." She shook her head. "I won't deny I find him attractive, and I do like him a lot - as a _friend_. I like _all_ of you a lot!" She smiled at him. "But there isn't anything else there. That was all part of the hallucination, and I must admit I'm grateful he hasn't mentioned it."

Daniel nodded. "That's what I thought - and you're right. I guess we're all very good friends." He threw a glance at O'Neill, and then at Teal'c.

"Exactly." She suddenly frowned, and listened. " _Damn_! It's a helicopter!" she exclaimed. "We have _got_ to get out of here!"

"I hear it," Teal'c said, getting up from where he had been sitting. He had finished his kel'no'reem a short while ago.

"Colonel!" Sam called, picking up her backpack.

"Yes, I'm awake!" O'Neill exclaimed, getting up a bit too fast, and having to steady himself. "Whoa."

"A helicopter is coming!" Daniel repeated, grabbing his backpack.

Moments later, they had their bags on and were hurrying into the denser forest. The helicopter came closer, hovering just above their heads. They pushed themselves up against a large tree each, hiding under the foliage.

The helicopter circled for some time, then slowly continued.

" _That_ was close!" Sam exclaimed.

"Too close. We'd better keep to the densest part of the forest as much as possible from now on," O'Neill said.

* * *

They had walked for most of the day, taking only short breaks to eat or when they were simply too tired to continue.

At some point they had come across a small waterway, with water that seemed clean. Since they had not dared fill their canteens in the river Tanana, they were happy to find more drinking water.

Their weakness was slowing them down, and the area was also frequently overflown by helicopters that circled, clearly searching, causing them further delays.

"I doubt we'll make it to Nenana before morning at this speed!" Daniel complained. "I can barely lift my feet!"

"We'll get there! We're more than halfway, I'm sure of that." O'Neill said, as he looked at the compass. "That way."

Daniel made a pained sound, and Sam groaned, but no one said anything else.

* * *

It was long after midnight when they finally could see the lights from Nenana across the river. By then the sky had become overcast again, and a light rain had started falling.

"I can't wait to sit down!" Daniel exclaimed.

"Yes, somewhere nice and warm, preferably," Sam said, shuddering. "I really hope we can find a car quickly."

"Stop!" Teal'c said. "Back between the trees!"

They could now all hear the sirens, and quickly jumped back into the safety of the forest. They looked on from behind some bushes.

"Damnation!" O'Neill grumbled when they shortly after saw several police cars with blinking lights drive past on the highway, entering the city SG-1 had expected to find a car in.

"We can't risk going in there now," Sam said. "The town is too small for us to hide in - there's less than 400 citizens."

"I'm afraid I'll have to agree," O'Neill said.

"Can't we just wait a little while and see if they leave?" Daniel suggested.

"Not in this weather," Sam said. "We'd die of exposure pretty quick."

As if to prove her point, the rain turned to sleet, and the wind picked up.

"Agreed. Any other suggestions?" O'Neill asked.

For a while, no one said anything. Then Sam spoke up, "Yes, maybe. We may be able to get on a train."

"What? _How_?" O'Neill said.

"When I went on vacation here with my dad, Selmak was very interested in everything, and she wanted to try riding a train too. So we took a short trip from Fairbanks down to Nenana."

"Okay. A train would work, but how do we get on it? It's probably not going to slow down except for in the city, and we can't _get_ into the city," O'Neill pointed out.

"I think there was a spot a bit outside town where the tracks were double, you know, so two trains can meet?" Sam said. "If we're lucky we can get on a train there, while it waits for another one to pass. Good thing it's on _this_ side of the highway."

O'Neill nodded. "Okay, that could work, but unless there's a lot of trains, we'd either have to be very lucky or have to wait a long time."

"Well, I think they transport timber, coal, gravel, and other stuff south, and various manufactured goods north, so I'd assume several trains will pass each day," Sam said. She grinned, a bit sheepish. "Selmak was very interested, so I looked up a bit of stuff."

"And as far as I know, freight trains run mostly at night." O'Neill considered it for a moment. "Okay, then. It's worth checking out. Show the way, Carter."


	6. Travelling by Train

"There's a train there!" O'Neill exclaimed, when they looked out from between the trees and out onto the track.

"Let's hope it stays there long enough for us to get onboard," Sam said.

"There doesn't seem to be guards, so let's find a good place and get on it!" O'Neill said, enthusiastically.

"Is it even going south? I mean, we don't want to risk ending up back in Fairbanks again!" Daniel warned.

"There are several wagons with lumber. I doubt they'd transport that from the south to Fairbanks," O'Neill said.

"Besides, there are two locomotives in the southern end of the train," Sam added, her teeth starting to clatter. "I can't see the northern end from here, but in any case, I suggest we risk it. It's getting _very_ cold."

"Agreed." O'Neill snuck up close to the train, and the others followed. There was a light on at the locomotives, but no where else.

"We can't sit outside in a timber wagon! We'll die of exposure," Daniel said. "Same goes for those hopper cars that have ore or gravel, or whatever."

"Daniel Jackson is correct. However, I see several closed wagons. Come," Teal'c said. As a Jaffa, he had better night vision that humans.

They hurried after him, and got to the boxcars.

"Locked, of course. What do you think is inside?" Daniel wondered.

"Who cares. It's better than being out here!" Sam said. She already had her lock-pick kit out, and was trying to pick the padlock. "Damn, my hands are freezing!"

"Hurry up! Who knows when the train leaves!" O'Neill urged in a low voice, nervous the train personnel would be checking the train before it left again.

"I'm _trying_! It's difficult when your hands are numb," Sam mumbled. She finally succeeded. "Yes, it's open!"

"Well done. Let's get inside!" O'Neill said.

They stepped up into the boxcar, and looked around in the almost complete darkness. Teal'c pulled the door closed behind them, and Sam turned on a flashlight and let it play over the walls.

"It's almost empty. There's only a small stack of bags or something over there," she said.

"That's odd, isn't it?" Daniel asked.

"Not necessarily. I guess the train could have transported something _to_ Fairbanks, and most of what they need exported are transported better in hopper cars," Sam suggested.

"Will the people in charge of this train not become suspicious when the padlock is missing?" Teal'c wondered.

"Yes, you're right, they might." Sam shone the light at the roof. "I saw a ladder on the outside of this car, leading to the roof, and I think that's a door up there. Someone could lock the car from the outside and then re-enter that way."

"I'm not fond of being locked up in here." O'Neill said. "We could end up trapped. However, I agree. It's probably necessary that we at least put the padlock back on and make it _look_ as if it's locked. Since Carter is the only one that can probably pick it, I don't want to do anything else."

"Okay, I agree with that," Sam said. "We can use a small amount of gum, maybe, to keep it closed. I saw you got some, sir."

"Right. That'll work. We should hurry before the train leaves."

"I will do it." Teal'c held out his hand, and Sam gave him the padlock.

O'Neill handed him a wrapped stick of chewing gum.

Teal'c went outside while O'Neill jumped up on the stack of sacks, some of which were located just under the hatch in the roof. Doing so, he could just reach the opening mechanism for the door. He had just opened it when the train started moving.

"Teal'c!" O'Neill called out.

Moments later, Teal'c appeared, looking down through the opening. "I am here, O'Neill."

"That was close! _Too_ close! Get down here before we reach the town!" O'Neill said.

* * *

The train had passed through Nenana without stopping, and SG-1 could relax for the time being.

"Let's check out what it is they're transporting." O'Neill went over to the stack of bags. They were lying on pallets, with plastic wrapped around.

"Yes, there's a weird, dusty smell in the room," Sam said.

"Concrete. That's what it is. I recognize the smell from when I cast a new floor in the garage!" O'Neill shone his light on one of the top bags. "Yup, cement."

"Too bad it isn't something soft, like fur," Daniel said.

"We should change into dry clothing. We still have some in the backpacks," Sam said, shivering. "It's really cold." She turned on her flashlight again and put it on the ground, while she started rummaging through her backpack.

"It's not that bad in here, at least," Daniel said, going through his backpack. "I've got a bunch of energy bars down here. Anyone want one?"

Sam nodded. "Yes, thanks, Daniel."

"I would like one as well," Teal'c said.

"Jack?" Daniel asked. When he did not get a response, he looked up. O'Neill was sitting on the bags of cement, looking as if he was far away in thought. " _Jack_?" He repeated.

O'Neill looked up. "Sorry." He took a deep breath. "That concrete floor I talked about, it was in, in Sara's garage."

"You ex-wife?" Daniel asked.

O'Neill nodded. "Yes. It feels like it was in another lifetime, but in reality it was only maybe 3 months ago. Damn aliens!" He shook his head. "I wonder how Sara is doing." He pushed the worries and dark thoughts aside. "I will worry about that later. Anyone knows where this train is going, or how long it'll take to get there?"

"Anchorage, I think, to the harbour there," Sam said. "Most of them do. No idea how long it'll take, but probably several days. Freight trains doesn't go very fast, and they have to wait regularly for other trains." She finished putting on dry clothing and sat down on a cement bag with a sigh of relief.

" _Days_!" O'Neill stared at her.

"We can't stay in here for days!" Daniel exclaimed. "We don't have enough food, or water, and what about going to the bathroom!"

"We each have two almost full canteens of water. That should last us a day, at least, if we are careful. How many energy bars do you have Daniel?" O'Neill asked.

"One moment." He checked. "About 20, I think."

"I've got three packets of biscuits, and a bunch of beef jerky," Sam said.

"I have some beef jerky as well," Teal'c told them.

O'Neill nodded. "Okay, with what I have, we won't starve, at least. Water is more of an issue, but if the train does stop from time to time and wait for long enough, then maybe we'll be able to find something to drink."

"Is it not possible to move between the cars of the train? I have seen that done in some of your movies," Teal'c said. "We should find out if there is something drinkable in the other cars."

"Ah, yeah. Well, I guess it's possible, but I'd think it's pretty damn dangerous," O'Neill said.

"Um, why don't we just put up something on the roof to capture water in? It's raining right now," Daniel suggested.

"Sleeting, but you're right. That's not a bad idea!" Sam said. "Do we have anything we can use?"

"There are large pieces of plastic around the concrete bags. Some of it has ripped a bit, so I don't think it would be too hard to get hold of some of that," O'Neill said. "I'm sure we've got something we can use to tie the plastic to the rails at the top of the cars."

"We risk someone seeing that, though," Daniel said.

"The car next to this one is carrying timber. Perhaps it would be better to put the plastic on that?" Teal'c suggested.

"That's possible. If we put it right, it'll look as if it's there to cover it, or something. Good idea!" O'Neill went to look at the plastic. "This piece looks whole and fairly clean. Teal'c, help me get it off the bags?"

* * *

It had gone better than expected to set up the plastic for gathering water, and they had gotten it placed between some stacks of timber on the car just behind their own. Since the stacks of timber were of uneven height, the piece of plastic could be hidden between them, ensuring that no one would notice unless they stepped up on the car.

After taking care of that, the members of SG-1 had allowed themselves time to relax, and sleep. It had been a long time since they got more than a few short naps, so they were grateful for this opportunity.

When Sam, O'Neill, and Daniel woke up again, it was almost noon. Teal'c had found a small hatch that could be opened on the side of the car, and was looking out.

He turned when he noticed his friends and teammates were awake. "It is still raining. I believe the plastic we placed tonight will soon be full."

"Great!" O'Neill yawned. "Have you seen anything we can use to tell where we are?"

"I have not. Now and then we are close enough to see the river, but most of the time it is obscured by trees. It would seem we are driving through some sort of forested wetland."

"Sounds about right," O'Neill reached for his canteen.

"We have passed many small waterways where we could possibly fill our canteens. Should the territory remain the same, that is an option if it does not rain sufficiently during this journey. Unfortunately, the train has only stopped twice, both times briefly, and neither time near water."

O'Neill nodded. "Understood." He took some beef jerky from his backpack and held some out to the others. "Breakfast?"

"Yuck, not jerky for breakfast! I think I'll stick to a protein bar," Daniel said.

"Suit yourself." O'Neill shrugged and handed some jerky to Teal'c. "Carter?"

She shook her head. "No, thanks. I'll take an energy bar." She grabbed her backpack with her good arm. "I'll attempt to construct a disruption device from the component we got at the electronics store."

"Okay, good idea." O'Neill gave her a concerned look. "How's the arm?"

"It hurts," Sam admitted, but added, "I'll manage."

O'Neill nodded. "Okay. We should probably change the bandage, though."

"Can't it wait, sir?" Sam grimaced. "Or haven't you gotten enough revenge for that split I made on you?" She made a small smile.

"Oh, that can never be avenged sufficiently." He smiled. "Let's see the arm, Carter."

Sam sighed. "Yes, sir." She carefully took off her jacket and sweater and held out her arm. "Throw me the blanket, will you Daniel?"

"Sure. Here you go, Sam."

O'Neill pushed the sleeve of Sam's t-shirt up a bit so he could get to the bandage. He gave her a stern look. "You ought to have told me it had bled through again."

"It's not really bleeding anymore, just seeping a little fluid, I think, so I decided it was better to leave it alone to heal," Sam said, wrapping the blanket around her as well as she could, using one arm. "It's cold."

"Normally I might agree, but..." he loosened the bandage as Sam gritted her teeth. "I'm afraid the wound has become infected."

Sam turned her head to look at the injury and made a face. The whole area was angrily red and swollen, and yellowish fluid was leaking from the wound.

She had suspected there was an infection, given how warm and swollen the whole area had felt, and the fact that she was probably running a fever, but she had hoped the symptoms were just because she was weak and tired, and had not been able to rest the arm.

"Damn, I had hoped that wouldn't happen. I mean, I usually _never_ get an infection," Sam said.

"After getting the stitches ripped open in the car crash and the wound submerged in swamp water, I guess it was to be expected." O'Neill sighed.

"Well, what do we do?" Daniel asked, very concerned. "We don't have any antibiotics!"

"For now, clean the wound again, put on a new dressing - and then I recommend rest and plenty of fluids!" O'Neill ordered.

Sam rolled her eyes. "Yes, doctor O'Neill. It's not like there's a lot else to do - I promise I'll take it easy while building the disruption device."

O'Neill nodded. "If we're lucky, it'll clear on its own, but if not, we'll figure out how to get antibiotics then. From whatever experience I have with wounds like this - and believe me, it's _way_ more than I wish I did - it won't be critical for several days, at least." He went to get the bottle of alcohol they had found on the farm where they had hid the first night after escaping from the aliens.

* * *

"Sir, the police have searched the area around where... the kidnappers crashed the car. They have found no one. Our own forces have searched as well," Major Davis hesitated. "We can only conclude that they must have escaped."

" _Escaped_? That is _not_ acceptable! You will find them!" Hammond exclaimed. "It is _your_ responsibility!"

"I apologize, sir. I do not know how it could have happened. We had police cars blocking off all roads out of the area!"

"Excuse me," a middle aged man with red hair said. "I have a suggestion."

"Let us hear it, chief." Hammond sighed.

"I agree that the kidnappers couldn't have driven out of the area, and if they are on foot they could not have gotten far away. We should have been able to find them in the search or see them on infrared cameras when we flew over the area. However, there are other ways for them to get out of there."

"Such as?" Hammond asked.

"They could have hopped a train. Probably a freight train would be the most likely."

"I see. Please get a list of all freight trains that would have passed through," Hammond said. "Bring it to me as quickly as possible."

"Yes, sir. We are all worried for the President's advisor." He left.

When the door had closed behind him, 'Hammond' turned to 'Major Davis'. "You will look at the information as soon as the police chief brings it. You _will_ bring back SG-1. _Alive_."

* * *

"Okay, we just rolled through something called Birchwood. Looks like there's a tiny airport," O'Neill said. "Anchorage should be next time, unless I'm mistaken?"

"Yes, I believe so," Sam said. She closed her eyes for a moment and leaned back against the wall of the train. She felt somehow weaker, even after resting, and she had a chill - as if she was slightly feverish.

"It's early morning. Do we get off at the railroad station, or continue to the harbour?" Daniel wondered. "Or do we try to get off at that base you mentioned, Jack?"

"Elmendorf-Richardson. No, I don't think so. I don't know anyone stationed there, and without knowing who is human or not, it's going to be difficult. I mean, even if every single _one_ of them is a human, no one is going to believe that you're not the ones who have kidnapped me - and they'll probably think I've been brainwashed or something if I say different." O'Neill shook his head in disgust. "No, we should try to get to Colorado Springs as quickly as we can, and find someone there we can trust."

"Will not Major Carter's device be able to determine if someone is using the mimetic device or not?" Teal'c asked.

"It should work, but even assuming they won't take it from us, we can't be certain the aliens haven't found a way to counteract it," Sam said.

"Wonderful." Daniel groaned. "So, the harbour, or what?"

"The harbour," O'Neill confirmed. "And we had better be ready to get off quickly. We should remove the padlock now, before we pass through more inhabited areas."


	7. In Even More Danger

"Does it look as if it's safe to leave?" Daniel asked, when the train had stopped.

O'Neill, who was looking out through the hatch, closed it again quickly, plunging the train car back into darkness. "We'll have to wait. There's people nearby. We're parked in what looks like a pretty isolated part of the harbour, so that's good at least. As soon as those people leave, we should be able to escape unnoticed. Get ready to move, folks!"

Moments later, someone approached the train car, and SG-1 grew silent, hoping whomever it was would leave without discovering anything.

"This car is not locked!" a voice said from the outside.

"Let me see!" another voice said, approaching.

The members of SG-1 all took out the weapons they had gotten at the hunting store, and prepared themselves as the door was opened from the outside and someone shone a light inside.

"What the hell?" O'Neill exclaimed. "Major _Davis_?"

"Hello, Colonel O'Neill. Good to see you." He raised his gun. "Major Carter, Doctor Jackson, and Teal'c - you are suspected of kidnapping the President's advisor."

O'Neill rolled his eyes. "Cut the crap! Of course they haven't abducted me, Major!"

He hesitated. "Perhaps we should speak in private." He turned to the two men standing a short distance behind him. "Wait over by that building."

The two men left, not looking as if they agreed with the decision.

"Okay, what now?" O'Neill asked, as the other man jumped up into the train car.

"Major," Sam greeted.

"Carter?" O'Neill asked.

Sam pointed to her disruption device. A light was showing, proving it was active.

"Is something the matter?" Major Davis asked.

"No." O'Neill shook his head and gave him a relieved smile. "Nothing's wrong. So, you've been told I've been abducted by my teammates, huh?"

Major Davis nodded. "Yes." He lowered his gun. "I know that is not true, Colonel. I am aware of the alien infiltration, and I managed to maneuver it so I was the one sent to retrieve you. Do not be concerned. We are a whole group working to put things right again."

"That's great! When can we meet them?" O'Neill asked.

"Not right now. Everything has to be kept secret. That is also why you have to come with me for now."

"Back to the alien facility?" Daniel asked, suspiciously.

"Do not worry. I will not let them hook you back up. This is just part of the plan, until we are ready to move against them," Major Davis said.

"What plan?" O'Neill asked, starting to get suspicious.

"I cannot tell you of it right now. We cannot risk sharing the information with anyone else right now. So, are you coming?"

O'Neill hesitated for several moments, then he went to get the bottle of 'moonshine'. "Okay. We'll come with you. But first, let's drink to the successful execution of your plan - whatever it is." He handed Major Davis the bottle.

He looked at it for a moment, then took it and opened it. "As you wish." He took a large swig of it, with no apparent discomfort, then handed it back to O'Neill. "Thank you. Your turn."

O'Neill glared at him. " _Any_ human would have reacted to drinking that! Teal'c, Carter!" He aimed his gun at him. "He's an alien!"

The others raised their weapons as well.

"So now you are not trusting me just because I can hold my liquor?" 'Major Davis' asked, a derogatory tone in his voice. Suddenly he raised his gun, and would have fired at Sam, if Teal'c had not been faster.

Teal'c shot 'Major Davis' in the arm, causing him to let go of his weapon with a cry. Purple blood immediately began to drip from him.

"You will _never_ escape! Never free your world!" the alien exclaimed, before jumping out of the train car.

SG-1 shot after him, but did not hit him again. Several cries of alarm was heard, and people started running towards them.

"Shit! We've _got_ to get out of here!" O'Neill exclaimed.

They all left the train car, abandoning all their stuff as they fled.

Except for Teal'c, they were all still heavily affected by the weakness from spending so long in the alien device, and so they could not run very fast. They fired their weapons in the general direction of the pursuers, and that held them off for long enough that all members of SG-1 made it out from the railroad area and onto the road beside it.

"Watch out! A car is coming!" Daniel warned.

Instead of moving aside, O'Neill stepped out in the middle of the road and pointed his gun at the oncoming car.

"Wait! Are you _crazy_?" Daniel exclaimed.

Teal'c and Sam joined O'Neill on the road. The car stopped, brakes screeching, a few feet before them.

O'Neill ripped open the door on the driver's side. "Out! _Now_!" he ordered.

A terrified man exited the car, as quickly as possible. "Ye... yes. Please don't hurt me!"

"I'm not going to hurt you! We need your car. _Keys_!"

Sam and Daniel had already opened two of the other doors and were getting into the car. Teal'c fired several shots in the direction of the men pursuing them, making them jump to safety.

"The keys... the keys are still in the ignition..." the car owner stammered, looking between O'Neill and Teal'c, who was now getting into the car as well.

"Great. Give me your wallet!" O'Neill insisted.

The man obeyed, too scared to do anything else. "Here."

O'Neill grabbed the money in it then threw the wallet at the owner. "Thank you - and sorry." He jumped into the car, and slammed the door.

"Contact the Air Force! They'll reimburse you!" Sam shouted after the car owner as they drove off. "Probably. Unless aliens have taken over," she added in a low voice.

The men that had been pursuing SG-1 now shot at them as they drove away, but fortunately they did not hit.

"This is getting tiresome!" Daniel cried out, when O'Neill took the curve in too high speed.

"Oh, I agree! What would you have me do differently?" O'Neill exclaimed, swerving desperately to avoid hitting an oncoming car.

"Sorry. I didn't mean it like that. I guess, I guess I'm just tired of being on the run," Daniel said, apologetically.

"We all are," Teal'c told him.

Sam let out a cry as the car made another sharp turn, slamming her injured arm against the side of the car.

"Sam?" Daniel asked, worried.

She gritted her teeth and shook her head. "I'll, I'll be fine."

"Hang on, guys!" O'Neill said, just as he took a very sharp turn.

"Our pursuers did not react in time. They will have to turn around," Teal'c informed them.

"Yes!" O'Neill stepped hard on the speeder, accelerating away to put as much distance between them and the car following them as he could.

* * *

"It would seem we have lost them," Teal'c said.

"Yes," O'Neill agreed, relieved. "No sign of them."

"How far from Anchorage are we?" Sam wondered.

"Not as far as I would like to. We've got a long way to go, because I think we can safely assume we can't go back and hop a boat or something," O'Neill said. "They've clearly got us on watch."

"Agreed. We should probably stay away from any larger cities," Sam said.

"What about Canada? Could we go that way?" Daniel wondered. "I mean, I know we have to cross through parts of it if we're driving, but I mean could we stay there for a while?"

"I doubt we'd be safe there. To be honest, I don't even know if we dare cross the border anywhere near a border point. We'll probably have to find somewhere remote."

"Could we not travel by train again?" Teal'c suggested.

"I don't think we can risk it, Teal'c. They'll be guarding them now, I'm sure. Not to mention that there aren't a lot of trains that go the way we want," O'Neill said. He checked in the mirror. There were few cars on the road, and none that seemed to stick out. "I think we're in the clear." He let out a sigh of relief. "They'll have reported this car stolen. We need to ditch it as soon as possible."

"Maybe we could try find a rest area where trucks stop, and sneak aboard one of those," Sam suggested.

O'Neill considered it. "It's not a bad idea. As long as we don't dump the car too close to it they may not even suspect that's what we've done, and even so it would be pretty hard checking all of them." He made a decision. "Sure, let's try it!"

"We also need to get some antibiotics for Sam," Daniel reminded them.

Sam grimaced. "If we can just get some painkillers then that should do it for now. We'd better get as far away from here as possible, as quickly as possible."

"You have an infection bad enough that you're running a fever!" Daniel pointed out.

"The naquadah in my blood seems to slow it down, though, or maybe it's some other change from Jolinar. Janet had noticed it at some point, actually."

"In reality or in our fantasy?" O'Neill asked, bluntly.

"Reality. I think," Sam said. "I'm sure, okay?"

O'Neill sighed. "Either way you're right. We _do_ need to get out of here, so unless it's immediately urgent, then escape is the only thing we can think of right now."

"One other thing," Daniel said. "We need to get something to eat soon."

"Indeed," Teal'c said.

O'Neill's stomach rumbled at that very moment. "Right, we do. I got some money from the poor guy we, ah, borrowed the car from. Teal'c, please check how much we got."

"Certainly." Teal'c picked up the money from the floor of the car, where O'Neill had dumped them when they left at full speed. "There are 159 dollars."

Daniel whistled. "That's quite a lot! We still have the 50 dollars we've gathered earlier, so that's more than 200 dollars!"

"We'll stop at the next store and buy some provisions - and painkillers, if they have them," O'Neill him.

* * *

"No problems?" O'Neill asked, when Teal'c, Sam, and Daniel returned to the car carrying their purchases.

The car was almost hidden behind some bushes, at the far end of the parking lot. Since O'Neill was the President's advisor - or at least O'Neill's imposter was - and he had just been 'abducted', it was best if no one saw him.

"No, we got what we needed," Daniel said. "However..."

"I think the shop assistant was suspicious of us," Sam said.

"I agree. We should leave quickly," Teal'c added.

They put the stuff they had bought into the trunk and got into the car, and then O'Neill drove out of the parking lot.

He turned on the radio, and searched through the channels. "I thought I'd see if there's a news program."

" _...from our correspondent in Turkey. Now we return for more news on the kidnapping of the Presidential advisor, Colonel Jonathan J. O'Neill, known as Colonel Jack O'Neill. This case continues to escalate, with the information that he has been sighted in Alaska, in Anchorage, this morning. His abductors are still in full control, and while it seems he was trying to escape, he regrettably did not succeed. The local police reports that he and his kidnappers were last seen driving east on Interstate A-1, in a stolen blue Honda Accord, with the license plate..._ "

"Oh, no! We're on the news!" Daniel said.

"Shh!" O'Neill hissed.

" _...described as armed and dangerous. As reported earlier, one of the criminals is a former US Air Force Major, Samantha Carter. She is white, 30 years old, 5 foot 9 inch, and blond. Her accomplices are Doctor Daniel Jackson, a 35 years old white male, 6 foot tall, brown hair, and a black man known only as Teal'c, 6 foot 3 inches, and about the same age as Doctor Jackson. He is described as bald and with a golden tattoo on his forehead. All three are to be considered extremely intelligent and Major Carter and Teal'c are skilled in military combat and highly dangerous. If you do see any of them, do not approach, but call the police on the following number..._ "

"Okay, I think we've learned enough to know that we can't let anyone see us - and that the people in the store almost certainly have reported seeing you," O'Neill grumbled.

"I can be dangerous too!" Daniel complained.

"I'm guessing this also means the three of us are now considered expendable," Sam said.

"I agree," Teal'c said.

"Not necessarily. Even before, Daniel was the only one they could probably use except me, since they can't access your memories or personality, and it seems as if they've decided to ditch him from the people they masquerade as now. It doesn't mean they'll kill any of you," O'Neill pointed out.

"No... not immediately, at least. They probably still need us in the simulation," Sam decided. "If that's the case, they can at least not shoot us outright."

"So we're safe in that way - unless some trigger-happy local policeman decides to help the country by killing us," Daniel mumbled.

"In any case, we should get rid of this car as quickly as possible, and try Carter's plan," O'Neill decided.


	8. Trucks, Motels, and the Police

"Okay, that one over there." O'Neill pointed to a truck that was parked furthest away from the restaurant at the rest stop. "It's only closed with tarpaulin, so it'll be easier to get inside."

"Right, it also means there isn't a door we can't close from the outside - that would just draw suspicion from the driver," Sam said. "It's a good choice."

"Not to mention I really don't want to risk us getting locked inside," O'Neill said.

After making sure no one was looking, they snuck over to the truck and loosened the tarp in one corner. Then, one by one, they jumped up and crawled over the sides onto the platform inside.

Teal'c crawled inside last, handing their bags of food and other supplies, as well as a crate of water bottles, to those inside first.

It was a good thing it was early evening, and almost dark, or it would have been hard to avoid detection.

O'Neill and Teal'c secured the tarpaulin again, as best they could from inside, then joined Sam and Daniel who was using the flashlights they had bought at the store to check out the contents of the truck.

"Looks like a pretty mixed cargo," Sam said. "The big crates appears to contain VHS movies, ah, all with ah, well, adult content."

O'Neill grinned. "Porn movies, eh? Too bad we don't have a television and video player - that could make the time go a lot quicker."

Sam rolled her eyes at him. "There's also plenty of canned fish, and some bags that looks like they contain more of the cement we found on the train.

"Over here there's boxes of paper," Daniel said. He moved aside some plastic. "And plenty of woolen blankets! Now _that's_ going to come in handy! It'll be cold in here when we start moving!"

"It looks like we can easily hide from view from anyone looking inside - or even anyone stepping inside for a few feet," O'Neill mused.

"We should do so now - and be silent!" Teal'c warned in a low voice, from where he had been looking out through a small hole in the tarpaulin. "A man is walking directly towards this truck."

"All right. Behind there. _Quickly_ ," O'Neill whispered.

* * *

"I think we're at the border to Canada," O'Neill told them in a low voice.

The driver had not discovered them, and they had driven for most of the night. It had been cold, but thanks to the blankets they had been able to get some sleep.

They kept as quiet as possible while the truck was stopped, and they heard the distant sound of the truck driver talking to what was probably the border control guard. After some minutes, the truck started moving again, and they continued.

"Phew! Looks like we got through without anyone coming to check!" Sam exclaimed.

"Indeed," Teal'c said. "The man who identified himself as the customs officer, merely wanted to see the truck driver's 'papers' and then he asked where he was going."

"You could hear what they talked about?" Daniel asked, astonished.

"Certainly," Teal'c said.

"So, are we going to the US with these goods?" O'Neill asked.

"According to the truck driver he is stopping in something called "Whitehorse" to unload the canned fish and the cement. He will take on some other things there, and then continue to Vancouver, and then finally Seattle," Teal'c informed them.

O'Neill nodded. "Too bad he's stopping in Whitehorse. It's the capital of Yukon, and only about 500 miles from here, I think. Oh, well, we'll have to get off this truck next time he makes a stop, and see if we can get on another. We can't risk being detected when he unloads his goods."

* * *

It had taken SG-1 more than two whole days, and they had had to sneak aboard two more trucks, but they had finally made it across the border to the United States again. The journey had gone surprisingly smooth, and only once had they been close to getting discovered.

Now it was early evening on October 12th, and SG-1 had just jumped off a truck on a small truck stop a bit outside Seattle.

Sam shivered. "It's a bit chilly, isn't it?"

"It's not too bad for mid-October, I think." O'Neill shrugged. "But it's not warm, I guess." He looked closer at Sam, noticing that she looked flushed. "Are you okay, Carter?"

"My arm hurts like hell, and I'm feeling a bit light headed and woozy, which is probably from not eating enough," Sam said. She took a deep breath. "I still feel weak, and I know I've got a bit of fever. It would really be great to get some sleep in a real bed."

"I agree! I'm tired and hungry, and I'm feeling disgusting. Why don't we go get something to eat at that restaurant over there, and then see if we can find a motel nearby? We've still got about 150 dollars - it should get us a that and more!" Daniel said.

"It's a good idea, I think, but I doubt they'll let us inside, looking and, ah, _smelling_ like this," Sam pointed out.

"Perhaps we could purchase clean clothing as well?" Teal'c suggested.

"We don't have _that_ much money, Teal'c!" O'Neill said. "However, I do agree. We won't be able to get around undetected if we look like we just crawled out of a swamp!"

"Well, the stores are probably closing around now anyway, it's past seven o'clock," Sam said. She closed her eyes for a moment and took a deep breath, swaying a little.

"Let's take a look at the buildings over in that direction." O'Neill pointed back along the road they had just come with the truck. "Perhaps we can figure something out."

They walked about half a mile, and came to the first of the buildings, which had a sign proclaiming it was a 'Factory Outlet Store'.

"Why don't we, ah, see if we can find some clothes in there? Then we can rent a room in the motel that was beside the restaurant at the rest stop, and take a shower, and get cleaned up," O'Neill suggested.

"They're closed," Sam said. "Besides, as you just said, we don't have that much money." She pulled her dirty coat closer around her and leaned against the street lamp behind her.

"You want to break in and _steal_ the clothes, isn't that what you mean?" Daniel asked. "Haven't we done enough crime?" She was feeling dizzier, and she was freezing badly.

"You're getting problems with your conscience _now_? Daniel, we're only taking what we need, and only until we can get in touch with the Air Force - or someone else we can trust. We need to do something before the entire planet is conquered by these aliens, and if that means a few instances of petty theft, then so be it," O'Neill exclaimed.

"Petty theft, car theft, _carjacking_ , assault..." Daniel listed.

O'Neill sighed. "All true. Regardless, I think we should check it out and see if we can find a way inside."

* * *

They had successfully broken into the outlet store and stolen a full set of clothing for each of them.

" _Nice_ , Sam!" Daniel grinned. "You look like a college student in those clothes!"

She rolled her eyes at him. "Funny, Daniel!" She gave him a tired smile, and put a hand on the wall, supporting herself.

O'Neill smiled. "Okay, Carter, let's take a look at your arm, put a new bandage on, and go get something to eat."

Sam took a deep breath and sat down on the bed in the motel room they had rented.

Now they had all taken a bath, and changed into the new clothing, which helped all of them feel better.

Sam removed the paper towels she had wrapped around her injury, grimacing as it caught in the wound. "I'm afraid it hasn't gotten better." It was with some trepidation, she held out her arm for O'Neill to look at.

O'Neill studied it with a grim expression. "You're right, it's gotten a _lot_ worse during the days in the trucks. As soon as we've gotten something to eat, Teal'c and I will go and find a pharmacy somewhere." He carefully wrapped a fresh bandage around Sam's arm.

As soon as he had finished tending to her injury, she hurriedly put on a sweater and then a jacket. "Let's get the trip to the restaurant over with," she said, getting up with some difficulty.

* * *

"You should get something more to eat, Sam," Daniel said, worriedly.

"I'm not feeling hungry." Sam looked at the half-full bowl of soup before her.

"We haven't gotten much for several days. Eat! We're not going back to the hotel room until you empty that bowl!" O'Neill ordered.

Sam rolled her eyes at him. "Yes, mom!"

O'Neill ignored the comment. The others had finished their food already, but waited while Sam slowly ate the rest of her soup, and the piece of bread that accompanied it.

They paid, and went back to the motel room. Sam threw herself on the bed almost immediately, and pulled the blanket up around her.

"I'll keep an eye on her while you guys try and find some antibiotics," Daniel said.

"We'll hurry back," O'Neill said. "Are you coming, Teal'c?"

"I am."

Daniel sat down on the bed when O'Neill and Teal'c had left. "Do you need anything, Sam? Water, maybe?"

"Painkillers if we have any more. My head hurts so much it feels like it's going to explode!"

"I think we've got some," Daniel said, going to fetch them. He returned a moment later. "Only one left." He handed it to her together with a glass of water.

Sam gulped it down, then crawled under the blanket again. She was asleep moments later.

* * *

It was not quite thirty minutes later, when someone unlocked the door. Daniel, who was half asleep in a recliner, woke up and rose.

"That was quick!" Daniel said, when the door opened. "Jack? Teal'c?" He stared at the uniformed men entering, realizing immediately it was not his friends. "Who are you?"

"The local police chief," the first of the three men said. "You and your accomplice are under arrest for robbery, car theft, breaking and entering, assault, attempted murder, violently refusing arrest..."

"Wait!" Daniel exclaimed. "I, I... you're mistaken!"

"Take them!" the police chief ordered, and one of the men stepped forward and grabbed Daniel, who was too shocked to fight him much.

"Be careful! She's sick and injured!" Daniel warned when the two other policemen roughly pulled Sam from the bed.

She groggily woke, but did not seem to completely realize what was going on, as she was dragged out of the building after Daniel.

They were both thrown ungently into the back of a large police van, and the door slammed behind them.

"Hi, guys!" O'Neill said, a grim expression on his face.

"We believe the people at either the restaurant, or the motel, has reported us," Teal'c told them.

"Damn snitchers," O'Neill grumbled.

"What do we do now?" Daniel sat up. He looked to Sam, touching her shoulder gently. "Sam?"

"Carter?" O'Neill asked. When she only made a moaning sound, he crouched down beside her. "How is she?" he asked Daniel.

"Not good, I'm afraid," Daniel said. "Did you get some antibiotics before you were caught?"

O'Neill shook his head. "Unfortunately not." He looked towards his unconscious second in command with concern.

* * *

The members of SG-1 were led into a small police station, and thrown directly into a cell. Sam had remained unconscious the whole journey there, and her friends carried her to one of the benches and put her down on it.

"There has been a mistake!" O'Neill insisted. "I demand to be allowed to call someone."

"You cannot demand _anything_!" the police chief told him. "Someone will come for you tomorrow."

"We're innocent in _whatever_ it is you think we're involved in."

The policeman snorted. "Of _course_ you are."

"Colonel O'Neill is correct. We are not the criminals here," Teal'c said.

"At least help our friend! She has a bad infection in a wound on her arm, and needs medication!" Daniel begged.

"You are wasting your time, scum!" the police chief told him.

"You're aware that the people pursuing us aren't human?" Daniel suddenly said, deciding to try another tactic.

"Daniel..." O'Neill warned.

"Of _course_ I am. I am also not a member of your pathetic race!" The police chief laughed, then left.

" _Crap_ ," O'Neill said.

"We need to get out of here, and quickly!" Daniel said.

"Perhaps we can escape? The cell seems more primitive than most of Goa'uld design," Teal'c said, going to try if he could move the bars.

"Forget it, Teal'c. They're too sturdy for that." O'Neill sighed.

"Do you think all the policemen working here knows their chief is an alien?" Daniel wondered.

"Probably - they're most likely aliens too, and if they're not, they'll think you're crazy for saying so," O'Neill observed, tiredly.


	9. Rescued?

It was very early morning when Teal'c woke up O'Neill.

"Uh, what?" O'Neill asked groggily.

"I believe our destiny is being decided. The alien masquerading as police chief received a phone call from the alien leaders. Someone will arrive to pick us up at 8 o'clock."

" _Damn_!"

Teal'c got a worried expression. "It would seem they have decided Major Carter is no longer required, and the people in the simulation will be lead to believe she died a hero."

"That sounds bad! What will they do to her, if they won't return her to the simulation with the rest of us?"

"From what I heard, they will report to the public that she has died during apprehension - but she will in reality be interrogated first, then killed."

"We need to get out of here!" O'Neill gave Daniel a push. "Wake up!"

"What? What's going on?" Daniel looked sleepily at O'Neill.

There was some noise from the anteroom, sounding like someone entered from outside.

"Just a moment!" O'Neill said. "I need to hear this!"

"...our leaders are most pleased with your apprehension of SG-1," someone said.

"I am always happy to be of assistance," the police chief said. "I had not expected you so soon, but the sooner they are out of here the better. You will take them off my hands now?"

"I will. My people are waiting in a van outside, so please bring SG-1 there quickly."

"Chain the prisoners!" the police chief ordered.

Moments later, several guards entered the room. They went directly to the cell, unlocked it, and began putting the members of SG-1 in chains.

"Hey! _Careful_!" O'Neill complained, when one of them ungently cuffed him.

Teal'c knocked the heads of two of the guards together, and they fell unconscious to the floor.

"Do that again and you are dead, Jaffa!" the police chief said warningly, pointing at them with a gun. "Since you are incompatible with the mimetic devices mindlink you are _very_ much expendable - just as the injured female!"

"Do as they say for now - there'll be other chances later," O'Neill whispered to him.

Teal'c nodded briefly and sent the police chief a cold look, but he let the guards handcuff him and lead him out after O'Neill and Daniel.

"What about Sam?" Daniel asked.

They had her in handcuffs as well, and roughly dragged her out after them. "Move!" the lead guard ordered.

They were taken outside, to the back of the building, where a large unmarked van was parked. Beside it stood a man wearing an Air Force uniform.

O'Neill stared at him for a moment, _sure_ he recognized him, which only made things more confusing.

"Put them in the back," the man ordered.

The guards did as they were told, and the door soon slammed behind SG-1, who found themselves on a bare floor. The walls were steel, and there were bars in front of the small window in the back of the car. Benches were placed along both sides.

The van started almost immediately, and soon accelerated.

O'Neill checked on Sam, who was still unconscious. "She's alive, but she badly needs treatment."

"Did that guy not look like..." Daniel began.

"That Tok'ra... _Malek_ , yes he did." O'Neill shook his head. "It doesn't make any sense. I mean, we didn't meet him until long after we started hallucinating, ah, you know what I mean! We never met him!"

"Perhaps not, but Major Carter may have memories of him, from Jolinar," Teal'c said.

"You're right. If that's the case, and he _is_ Tok'ra, then we may be safe!" O'Neill said.

"Of course, it could just as well be that he's an alien who's masquerading as someone who just _looks_ like a Tok'ra Sam dreamed up!" Daniel suggested, morosely.

O'Neill sighed. "Possible, but for now I am going to hope _my_ version is the right one, okay?"

* * *

One month earlier.

"Jacob, I understand why you want to do this, but the Tau'ri made it quite clear they would have nothing to do with us," Garshaw said. "Even your daughter could not spare the time to meet with you."

"You were in fact one of those sent there, who returned with this information," Delek reminded him. "Why would we want to contact them again?"

"As I told you back then, something seemed off. I also don't believe they'd just tell us to forget about it all - only a few weeks before we were to sign the official treaty!" Jacob said, frustrated. "And Sam would _never_ just have someone else tell me 'sorry, I don't have time to meet you. Ever again. Bye!', That's just not her style."

"I agree with Jacob. It _does_ sound strange," Malek said.

"Since you have never met the Tau'ri, you cannot tell what is strange behaviour for them," Delek pointed out.

"Nor have you. Jacob is the only one here with actual inside knowledge of these people, people who have reportedly shown great interest in becoming our allies. I believe he should be allowed to lead a small expedition there, to see if all is well."

"George Hammond is an old friend of mine, and thinking back, I believe his behaviour was wrong," Jacob added. "I suspect he has been... brainwashed, maybe?"

"It sounds unlikely," Ren'al said. "Selmak, what is your opinion?"

Jacob dipped his head, and gave Selmak control.

"I agree with my host. On afterthought, the people at Stargate Command behaved somewhat unusually - and the fact that they told us the Tau'ri were suddenly no longer interested in any cooperation with us was very strange. At the time, Jacob believed there might have been a change in government, but all General Hammond said was that the decision had been made. He apologized, and asked us to leave immediately, not even allowing Jacob time to go and visit his son, or talk to his daughter."

"Whatever their reasoning, they may not _wish_ for our interference," Garshaw said.

"What if they _have_ been brainwashed in some way? Or maybe their government has been infiltrated by the Goa'uld. If so, we need to know - for our own safety," Selmak argued.

"Did you not report the Tau'ri had ceased exploring the Galaxy through their chaapa'ai?" Malek asked.

"That is so. In fact, the Tau'ri chaapa'ai no longer accepts our iris code."

"Which could mean nothing more than they no longer wish our visits."

"There are many possibilities, but I agree that there is reason to look into it further. Selmak, if you and your host wishes to take the mission, then you may do so. Bring a small team with you. If the planet has indeed been infiltrated by the Goa'uld - or worse - then there is cause for concern," Garshaw said.

"Thank you, Master Garshaw," Selmak said. She bowed her head and gave Jacob control.

"I have a teltac parked on Rol'ah. From there it should only take about a day to Earth."

"I will join you, Jacob," Malek said.

Jacob nodded. "Thank you. You're very welcome. I've got two others who will be going with us as well." He looked to Garshaw. "We'll bring a secure long-range communicator, and report back as soon as we know anything."

"Good. While I hope no Goa'uld has conquered the Tau'ri, I must admit I also hope they have not just decided to break off contact with us. I had high hopes for this cooperation," Garshaw said. "You may leave."

* * *

They had driven maybe an hour when the van stopped. The door was opened moments after.

O'Neill, Teal'c, and Daniel were all prepared to try and overtake the people outside and escape, if it turned out it was _not_ their allies who had come for them.

"Jacob!" O'Neill exclaimed, surprised.

Jacob was wearing a green BDU, so they were clearly pretending to be from the Air Force, just like Malek had claimed to be.

"Hello, Jack." He looked past him to Sam, who was lying on the floor in the back of the car, propped up with a jacket as well as her teammates had been able to. "How's Sam?"

"Not so good. She needs antibiotics," O'Neill said, as he stepped out of the car.

Daniel and Teal'c got out as well.

Jacob looked worried. "We'll have to see if we can get some - if a healing device isn't enough."

Another man appeared behind Jacob, this one young, and with brown hair.

"I have a healing device. Let me see if I can help Samantha."

"Martouf!" Daniel exclaimed. "You're alive!" He looked in shock at the Tok'ra, wearing a green BDU, just like Jacob.

Martouf raised an eyebrow. "Of course I am alive. Why wouldn't I be?"

"Uh, long story," Daniel said.

"Very long," O'Neill agreed. "We'll explain later. Can you do something for Carter?"

"I believe so." Martouf went to where Sam was lying, and gently removed the bandage. She moved a little, but did not wake up. Martouf studied the injury, concerned. "The wound is badly infected, and the infection has spread."

He took out his healing device and slipped it on, then activated it. He slowly ran the beam over Sam, then let it focus on the wound on her arm.

"Are we safe here?" O'Neill asked.

"For the time being. We should not stay longer than necessary," Jacob said, turning to see Malek approaching. "Did you catch anything useful on the radio?"

"Only that they have realized we were not the ones who should have collected the prisoners," Malek said. He turned to the members of SG-1 "Hello, my name is Malek."

"Yeah, we know," O'Neill told him.

Malek frowned. "To my knowledge, we have never met."

"That is correct, we have not," Teal'c said.

"However, we... _kind_ of have," Daniel said. "It's... _complicated_."

"I'll bet." Jacob shook his head. "It looks like there's a lot of things we need to talk about."

O'Neill nodded. "Yes. How much do you guys know about the aliens that have infiltrated Earth? Or the US, at least."

"From what we can tell, it's mostly the US. For now. They've started infiltrating various international organizations, and possibly one other government, but only a very few people in other countries are affected," Jacob said, his gaze sliding to the back of the van where Martouf was still working, concentrated, at healing Sam.

"All right. Do you know how long the aliens have been here?" O'Neill asked. "We've kind of been out of the loop."

"Yes, according to Janet you were most likely captured in an alien machine, which enabled the aliens to masquerade as you," Malek said. "She said that the aliens arrived in late June, according to your calendar."

"Late June! That means we've been in that hallucination for more than 3 months!" Daniel exclaimed. " _Wow_! That's a bit longer than we thought!"

"Indeed. Major Carter speculated that we most likely were not in it for more than a month, at most two," Teal'c said.

"Oh, and Janet is free? She's with you guys?" Daniel asked.

"She is," Malek confirmed. "We met her shortly after arriving on your world, and she has been a great help to us."

"Wait... _Janet_?" O'Neill said. "Did you call her Janet?"

"Yes, that is her name, is it not?" Malek asked, confused.

"He means why are you using her first name," Jacob clarified. "Last names aren't used much on most worlds, besides, we've been living closely together." He threw a quick glance at Malek. "Some closer than others."

"Uh... you and Janet...?" Daniel wondered, looking at Malek.

"Janet is a kind and very competent person. I also consider her a, ah, close _friend_ ," Malek said, quickly.

Martouf made an amused sound from inside the van. "Yes, you seemed very friendly to each other the other evening." He took a deep breath. "I have healed Samantha's injury, but there is still some infection in her body."

"Can't you do something about it with that thingie?" O'Neill asked, indicating the healing device.

Martouf shook his head, a concerned look on his face. "I have done what I can with this. However, with some help, I believe her own body will be able to overcome the remaining infection." He took out a small bottle from a pocket.

"What's that?" O'Neill asked, when Martouf uncapped it and poured some liquid from it into Sam's mouth, making her drink it.

"Why is she still unconscious?" Daniel wondered.

She coughed, but Martouf held her mouth closed, and she swallowed the liquid. She still did not wake up.

"What did you give her?" O'Neill demanded, taking a step closer to Martouf.

"I gave her something called ta'el shel'mel. It is a strengthening drug - meant to help you recover your strength and recuperate faster. As for why she is still unconscious? I used the healing device to tell her body to remain asleep for now. It will help her heal."

"Okay," O'Neill said, looking only marginally mollified. "Is it even meant to be used on humans? The drug, I mean. Or just on snakes?"

Martouf frowned at O'Neill's hostility, but did not answer immediately. He held his hand above Sam's head, evaluating her energy signature, like the Tok'ra did with each other. "Yes, of course it is intended for use on Tok'ra. It helps the symbiote so it can better heal itself and its host, if they are in a bad shape and cannot easily get help from someone with a healing device, for example."

"I get that, but Carter isn't Tok'ra," O'Neill exclaimed. "Do you have _any_ idea what it will do to her?"

"At least it should not harm a human, and Lantash believes it will help Samantha," Martouf said, getting annoyed at the other's continued suspicion.

"He's right, Jack." Jacob sighed, and went over to look at his daughter. "If it doesn't help, we'll attempt to get some antibiotics from a pharmacy, but right now we should continue. It's not safe to remain here for very long."

"Okay, but as soon as we get back to wherever it is you guys are staying, I want to hear _all_ you know about these damn aliens!" O'Neill insisted. "No holding back like you guys always do!"

Jacob gave him a surprised look, clearly not understanding why O'Neill was behaving the way he did. "You will," he finally said. "Get into the car."

Martouf got out, and SG-1 got back into the back of the van, and Jacob closed the door after them.

* * *

"Um, Jack..." Daniel said.

"What?" O'Neill looked up, from where he was obviously lost in dark thoughts.

"Didn't you notice Jacob's and Martouf's reaction?"

"What do you mean?"

"To the way you behaved. You were suspicious of Martouf's treatment of Sam, and basically told him and the other Tok'ra you didn't trust them."

"Well, I _don't_! And? They've got to be used to that by now!" O'Neill exclaimed.

"Are they? I talked to Sam about it, and I've thought about what she said. All that hostility between us and the Tok'ra, it _all_ happened _after_ the time when we got stuck in that hallucination. In short, it _never_ happened in reality!"

"Daniel Jackson is correct," Teal'c said.

"That can't be true! I _clearly_ remember..." O'Neill hesitated. "That is, I _think_ I remember." He shook his head. "Those damn aliens! I can't tell what's really happened and what's not."

"No, it's pretty confusing," Daniel agreed. "But we _did_ learn that it's mid-October 2000 now. Anything and everything after that hasn't happened - and according to Jacob, we got captured in late June, so anything after _that_ hasn't happened."

"Unless Jacob and the other Tok'ra are really aliens. I mean, those _other_ aliens."

"I do not believe so. We know from earlier that symbiotes hinder the alien mindlink," Teal'c said.

"Besides, they rescued us, didn't they?" Daniel pointed out.

O'Neill nodded slowly. "Yes, they did, and you're probably right. I'd still feel better about it if Carter was awake and could tell me she senses a symbiote in them!"


	10. Safe - for Now, At Least

"Finally! I thought you'd never let us out again!" O'Neill exclaimed when Jacob opened the back door of the van, several hours later.

"Good to see the situation hasn't affected your friendly mood, Jack," Jacob said, drily.

"It was unfortunately necessary, in order to get as far away from the aliens that had captured you as possible," Martouf told them.

"How is Sam?" Jacob asked.

"She's still unconscious - or asleep, but I think her fever's down," O'Neill said, feeling Sam's forehead.

Jacob nodded, relieved. "Good. Come on - let's get her inside."

"This place belongs to Janet's sister," Malek told them. "We are in the state you call Idaho."

"Right, I remember Janet mentioning it once, when she was taking Cassie there for a vacation," Daniel said.

"I will give Samantha some more of the strengthening medicine," Martouf said, taking out the small bottle again.

"Shouldn't she have woken up yet?" O'Neill asked.

"I am sure she will do so very soon," Martouf said, gauging her energy levels by holding a hand over her forehead. "She is stronger," He touched her forehead. "And her fever is down."

"That's good to hear," Jacob said, relieved.

"It is," O'Neill agreed.

Martouf lifted Sam up so she was half-sitting, and poured some more of the strengthening medicine down her throat.

"Janet!" Daniel said, smiling, when he saw her approach them, followed by Aldwin. "And _Aldwin_!"

Janet smiled. "Hi, Daniel, Colonel - Teal'c." She noticed Sam, and got a worried expression. "What's wrong with Sam?"

"She was injured during their escape from the aliens," Jacob told her. "But she's doing better now."

"That's good. Get her inside so I can take a look at her."

"Hello, Janet," Malek said, going up to her.

Janet smiled at Malek, and gave him a hug. "Welcome back!"

"I'll hide the car, then I'll join the rest of you inside," Jacob said.

Martouf picked up Sam, and carried her into the cabin. The others followed, still not sure they could believe all this was true.

* * *

Daniel, Teal'c, and O'Neill was sitting in the living room in Janet's sister's cabin. Martouf had placed Sam on the couch, and Janet was currently examining her.

Malek, Martouf, and Aldwin had gone to the kitchen to find something warm for SG-1 to eat.

"This is weird," O'Neill observed in a low voice.

"How so, O'Neill?" Teal'c wondered.

"You know, all of this. Doctor Fraiser, the Tok'ra..."

"Right, knowing all that stuff was something we hallucinated is a _lot_ different from actually seeing proof of it!" Daniel agreed.

The door opened and Jacob entered, immediately looking towards his daughter on the couch. "How is she?"

"The wound itself is healed. I'll have to say those healing devices are effective!" Janet said. "Her body has almost won the battle against the infection, so I don't think it will be an issue." She looked relieved. "You know, we _really_ need to get our hands on some more medicine - some antibiotics at the very least - now when it's not just you Tok'ra I have to look after."

"We'll think of something. Raid a pharmacy if we have to," O'Neill said. "I'm assuming there's no way we can contact anyone from Stargate Command?"

Jacob shook his head. "No, that's the headquarter for the aliens. Everyone there is an impostor." He walked over to the couch and caressed Sam's cheek, brushing aside a few strands of hair, then touching her forehead.

O'Neill nodded. "Okay. Speaking of impostors..."

Martouf entered the room then. "You don't trust us to be who we appear to be."

"Frankly, no. I mean, Teal'c tells me that someone with a symbiote probably couldn't be, ah, _mimicked_ with those devices, and he's probably right, but I'd still like some proof."

"Teal'c is correct, but I can understand your concern." Martouf went back to the kitchen and returned a moment later, carrying a knife.

"Whoa!" O'Neill exclaimed, standing quickly when Martouf approached him.

Martouf quickly cut himself across his palm, and held it out to O'Neill. Red blood trickled out and a few drops dripped from his hand. "Will this be acceptable proof?"

"The aliens have purple blood," Teal'c said.

"I know." O'Neill sighed. "Yeah, that's, that's fine, Martouf. Thanks."

Martouf nodded and went back into the kitchen.

"You want the rest of us to do the same?" Jacob asked.

"No, I guess I'll take your word for it - I'm assuming Marty would have said something if he suspected any of you guys of being those aliens," O'Neill said.

Aldwin, Malek, and Martouf entered, bringing a large bowl of soup, some bread, and bowls and spoons.

"Okay, let's get something to eat, then we can bring each other up to speed," Jacob decided.

"We should move Sam into bed," Janet said.

"Yeah, that's probably a good idea," O'Neill agreed.

"I will do so," Martouf said, gently picking Sam up.

He only just had her in his arms, when Sam began to wake up.

"What is going on?" she mumbled, groggily. "Where am I?" She opened her eyes, and a look of disbelief came over her face when she saw Martouf. " _Martouf_? No... no, I must be hallucinating..."

"No, I am here with you, Samantha," Martouf said. He looked at her with concern. "How are you feeling?"

"Better... I think." She shook her head as she looked at him again. "Unless I'm going crazy."

"You're not," Jacob assured her, walking over to them.

Martouf let Sam down, but did not let go of her as she was more than a little unsure on her legs.

"Dad?" Sam looked around, her expression of disbelief remaining. " _Janet_! And Aldwin - and Malek!" She shook her head.

"It's like you said, Sam," Daniel told her. "It was only in our imagination that they died."

"Died?" Martouf asked.

"Long story. We'll get to that after dinner," O'Neill said. "Good to see you awake, Carter!"

"We were getting concerned," Teal'c added.

Sam nodded. She was a little more sure on her feet, but not completely so.

"Would you like something to eat?" Martouf asked, indicating the food on the table.

"No... yes, in a moment. I... need to use the bathroom first."

Martouf nodded. "I'll help you get out there."

"No, no that's okay. I can walk myself." She smiled at him. "Wow, you're really... _real_!"

He raised an eyebrow and gave her an amused smile. "I assure you, I am quite real."

"That's wonderful." She gave his arm a squeeze, then began to step away from him, before suddenly throwing her arms around him in a tight hug. Before he could recover from his surprise, she quickly let go of him, a somewhat embarrassed expression on her face. "I've... I've missed you."

He gave her a sweet smile. "I am also very happy to see you, and to know that you are well."

She nodded, still smiling. Supporting herself against a table, she approached her father. "You too, dad." She shook her head as she embraced him.

He returned the hug. "We're all glad you're okay, Sammie."

She let go, and looked around. "I, I know, well, _thought_ you were alive, some of you at least, but to actually _see_ that you are alive... it's a bit overwhelming. You too, Janet." She smiled warmly at her friend, then went on to give her a hug.

"Sam?" Jacob wondered, looking towards Janet who had asked the same.

"I'll explain - or try to," Daniel said.

Sam nodded. "Thanks. I'll be back in a moment." She left the room.

"You guys will have to help too." Daniel looked to O'Neill and Teal'c, then took a deep breath. He began to explain.

* * *

"All right, most or all of Stargate Command has been infiltrated. Same goes for much of the higher ranks of the Air Force, some of the police, and some of the civilian leaders." O'Neill shook his head. "That's bad."

Jacob snorted. "No kidding!"

"So, you've been here a month?" Sam asked. She was feeling a lot better now, and some warm soup had given her more energy.

"Yes. We came by teltac, as I said. The Stargate is in the hands of the aliens," Jacob said.

"No offense, but why are you still here?" O'Neill asked. "I mean, don't get me wrong, we're grateful for the rescue, but I'd have thought you'd returned to the Tok'ra with the information that your allies were gone. Not expected to be heard from ever again."

"Is that really what you think?" Lantash asked, looking offended. "That we would just leave you to your fate like that?"

"Well, uh..." O'Neill said. He shook his head. "To be honest, I don't know _what_ to think. About anything."

Jacob nodded. "We understand. From what you have told us, it's got to be difficult to tell what is real and what was in the simulation."

"Yeah... well, I'd like to apologize in advance - because I'll probably screw up and say something stupid to you guys. Several times," O'Neill said.

"Understood. Apology accepted," Lantash said. "Your situation is certainly not enviable." He gave Martouf control.

"Please understand that we really do wish to help you. We do have... great hopes for what we can achieve in cooperation with you." He sighed. "In addition, we cannot allow these aliens - hitherto almost unknown, except for what we have learned from you - to take over your world."

"You don't want a new, possibly dangerous, player to become that powerful, eh?" O'Neill said. "Don't worry, I can understand. The Goa'uld is more than enough. We don't want these guys to take what we've learned from the Goa'uld and use it to start conquering worlds."

"True," Jacob admitted.

"Okay - well, I guess we're... glad you're here," O'Neill admitted. "Hopefully, together, we'll find a way to throw those damn impostor aliens off Earth!"

Jacob nodded. "Yes. We should figure out a plan of attack. As we told you, while we've been here we've gathered as much information as we can. We have also tried to construct a device to disrupt the mimetic devices - like Doctor Fraiser says you did, Sam. However, with nothing to test on, we can't be sure if we've hit the right frequency - or if there just weren't any aliens near the device."

"You may well have hit the right frequency. Unfortunately we've learned that they've developed their devices to the point where it's no longer sensitive to what I did before," Sam said.

" _Damn_. That makes it harder," Jacob exclaimed.

"No technology - and no species - is invulnerable. We will find something else we can use," Malek said, determined.

"It would be easier if we had one of the aliens to test on, though," Martouf added.

"Agreed, and we may be able to help you there," O'Neill said.

"We know that Major Davis has been substituted for an alien, but we did not succeed in capturing him," Martouf said.

"No, but we did see some of the people that were in the room with us when we woke up, back at the facility, so we just need to find one of those walking around out here," O'Neill said.

"We'd know they would have to be aliens. Not a bad idea," Jacob said.

"You said you had gathered intelligence. Do you know where these aliens congregate?" Teal'c asked.

"We believe their headquarter is located in Colorado Springs," Malek said.

"Stargate Command," O'Neill concluded.

"Yes, we believe everyone there is one of the aliens. Presumably many in Colorado Springs are as well, but we don't know that for sure," Martouf said.

"There are a few in Washington whom we suspect are aliens. You were one of them, Jack," Jacob said. "And you, Daniel."

"Well, you were right there," O'Neill said, laconically.

"Other than that, we have determined that the aliens are concentrated in five localities - one of them in a town near the facility you were in," Malek added.

"By the way, have you found out what these aliens call themselves? We only know SG-6 met them on P3X-118, and that their language is _very_ different from ours. It sounds more like a collection of guttural grunts than actual syllables. I haven't been able to make heads or tails of the snippets we've recorded," Daniel said.

Malek nodded. "We have the same problem. Their language does not seem to follow any pattern we have ever seen."

"Because they're alien," O'Neill pointed out.

"True, but even our own original language, as symbiotes, is in many ways structured like most humanoid languages. Such is not the case for these aliens," Malek said. "We suspect some of their communication is telepathic, and that this is part of the problem. We have, however, found the 'word' we believe they use for themselves - 'Thlmnnuorghs'."

"Yeah, we can't call them that! Let's go with Targs," O'Neill said.

"Targs?" Sam wondered.

"Klingon boars. From Star Trek, I believe," Teal'c said.

"Spot on, T!" O'Neill smiled.

Jacob raised his eyebrows, then shrugged. "Well, for lack of a better word, I guess it works."

"Okay. Targs it is." O'Neill grinned. "So, do you got any other intel on these guys? They must have run into the Goa'uld at some point. Ever try taking them as host? You _did_ say you had _almost_ no knowledge of them before. Meaning, you must have _some_ prior knowledge of them."

"We have very little information about them. I do not believe it would be possible to take them as a host," Malek said.

Jacob gave Selmak control, and she nodded. "I agree." She was silent for a moment. "There are some... stories about a people like this, which the Goa'uld Bastet came across many centuries ago."

"Really? What happened?" Daniel asked.

"If I remember correctly, the operative we had at her court reported that it was a small group of aliens, who had appeared human at first, but it had turned out to be a ruse. I believe Bastet's lo'tar had been taken by them, and an alien substituted for him. She was not amused."

O'Neill grinned. "I can imagine!"

"Bastet tried to get more information, but the aliens self-destructed before she could make them talk. They were never heard from again. I think Bastet decided they were probably from another Galaxy."

"Another _Galaxy_? Well, I guess that would make sense," Daniel said.

"Okay, well at least we know a little more." O'Neill said. "Anyway, as for a plan, I guess that our first step is clear. We need to find an easy way to tell if someone is an alien or not. Carter? You've got an idea how to change that disruption device?"

"She's fallen asleep, Colonel," Janet said, indicating Sam who's head was leaning against the couch, and who was clearly sleeping.

"I'm tired too," Daniel said, yawning.

"Then let's call it a night," Jacob said. "We'll continue this tomorrow morning."

"Sam needs to sleep - and so does the others after this ordeal. Tomorrow afternoon is more than early enough!" Janet insisted. "There's several bedrooms. I've got one of the two small ones, and I was thinking Sam could have the other. The Tok'ra are sharing one of the two bigger ones - you guys can take the other."

"What about guard duty?" O'Neill asked. "I'm noticing we're all in here - unless there are more people I don't know about."

"We have an automated warning system set up, with camera surveillance as well, Jack," Jacob said.

"But there is always one awake during the night as well," Malek added.

"We take turns. Tonight you should get some sleep, then we can start incorporating you into the schedule," Jacob said.

"As I am the only one not in need of sleep, it would stand to reason I should stand guard," Teal'c said.

"You still need rest - and to kel'no'reem," Malek pointed out.

"It is my turn to stand guard first," Aldwin said. "You are welcome to join me for some of the time, Teal'c. When you have done your kel'no'reem."

Teal'c inclined his head. "It would be my honour."

O'Neill yawned. "Okay, with that settled, it's time to get some sleep!"


	11. Happiness - and Some Talk

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning: This chapter is NC-17 for sex (Janet/Malek)

"Janet?" Malek whispered, after knocking on her door.

She opened it, smiling. "Come in, Malek, sweetie."

He entered and she shut the door, then immediately threw her arms around him.

"Did you miss me?" He smiled at her.

She gave him a warm kiss. "Mmm, and I was really worried while you guys were out rescuing SG-1."

"Successfully." He kissed her.

"Yes." She smiled. "Of course." She pulled at the t-shirt he was wearing. "Now, stop talking and get into my bed!"

"So _forceful_! My Tau'ri!" He grinned and quickly dropped pants and t-shirt on a chair. He let his gaze slide over Janet. She was wearing a short, almost sheer nightdress - and obviously no underwear. "Now _where_ did you get that piece of clothing? Johan and I like it _very_ much!"

"Good. I am pleased both you and your host approve. Not that I was in any doubt..." She winked at him, looking at the large erection he was sporting. Then she suddenly gave him a push, making him fall backwards down on the bed. She jumped after him and straddled him.

Malek groaned and thrust upwards, the tip of his cock entering her. "Janet!" He grabbed her hips and pulled her down over him, making them both hiss.

"N... _naughty_!" Janet gasped.

He ran his hands up her sides, to her breasts, filling his hands with them. "Oh, but you did not really want me to be able to resist the temptation, did you? You _are_ so very tempting..."

Janet smiled. "No, I most _certainly_ did not!" She wiggled her ass, stimulating his cock with her pussy and making Malek gasp again from the sensation. "Now behave!" She swatted his hands away.

She raised herself over him and slid down again, slowly and deliberately, again and again. Malek grabbed the sheets hard, fighting not to grab hold of her hips again, or turn them over and start thrusting into her hard, like he and his host wanted to.

Janet rode him slowly, each time sliding all the way down over him, then moving her hips in a small circle, rubbing herself against him. She repeated this again and again, moving a little faster each time.

"Janet..." Malek groaned, his hands going to her hips. " _Please_..."

She bit her lower lip as she pushed herself down over him, faster and harder now. She moaned and nodded. "Yes, you may... _thrust_..."

She squealed and closed her eyes, letting out a loud groan as he bucked up against her and pulled her down at the same time. They began moving together, and loud slaps could be heard in the room from their thrusting. It took a very short time before Janet cried out as she came, with Malek letting out a roar as he joined her moments later.

They collapsed together in a heap, with Janet suddenly giggling. "You shouldn't cry out like that... you'll wake the others." She grinned a little sheepishly. "They'll say something."

"The Tok'ra will not - and if the Tau'ri do... well, I do not care if everyone knows of my love for you." He smiled, very happy.

* * *

"Samantha?" Martouf asked.

She turned to look at him, and smiled. "Martouf."

"Forgive me, but should you not be asleep? You have gone through quite an ordeal, and your body needs rest."

Sam nodded. "I probably should." She yawned. "It's just... I woke up, and couldn't fall asleep again. What about you?"

"It is my turn to stand guard."

"Ah. Well, I'll look forward to talking to you tomorrow, then."

"I will go and relieve Aldwin in a little while. Since Teal'c is there as well, it is not urgent." He took a step closer to her. "Would you like to talk? Perhaps it will help you put to rest any troubled thoughts that might be keeping you awake."

Sam snorted, then shook her head. "I'm afraid it'll take more than talk to do that. If I remember correctly - I was pretty tired yesterday - then the aliens have infiltrated much of the top of the military and police, as well as many governmental branches. The aliens can masquerade as anyone we know, and we have _no_ way of disrupting that damn device!"

"Samantha, I have full confidence in you being able to find a new way to disrupt the mimetic device. As for the rest? Yes, it is a formidable enemy, but I believe we have a good chance of succeeding, together."

"Thanks." She have him a half-smile. "It's wonderful to have you guys here, at least."

Martouf smiled. "We are very pleased with your presence here as well." He took her hand. "Yours particularly, Samantha. We had been very worried for you."

She nodded, then shook her head. "It's just still so confusing, you being alive. I mean, you obviously are, but..."

"But in the hallucination - or simulation, is perhaps a better word - that the aliens kept you in, I was dead."

"Yes. Along with my dad, Janet, Aldwin - most of the Tok'ra, actually. Most of the Goa'uld too. And... and the Asgard."

"I'm sorry. It must have been very unpleasant."

Sam snorted. "Unpleasant is putting it mildly."

"Sorry, I did not mean to denigrate it. To you it was real," Martouf said.

"Fortunately, it was not. I'm really glad you weren't a zatarc."

"Zatarc?" Martouf wondered.

"Yeah, you know, a brainwashed assassin. The victim of Goa'uld mind-control technology."

He frowned. "There have certainly been instances where Goa'uld have tried to brainwash humans - or even Jaffa - but doing so to a Tok'ra would be very difficult and take a very long time."

"Um, according to Anise it could be done in moments."

Martouf shook his head. "That, I believe, would be impossible. It would have to be the symbiote who was brainwashed, since it could just take over if the host was compromised - and then cure the host. Not only would the symbiote need to be brainwashed, but also turned Goa'uld, since the host would have to be suppressed."

"Uh, so no way to brainwash a Tok'ra without them knowing, and without it really being the symbiote then pretending to be the host?"

Martouf dipped his head, giving Lantash control. "Samantha, what you suggest would not be possible. At least not without technology far above anything the Tok'ra or the Goa'uld have encountered. Please believe me."

Sam sighed. "I do. It was clearly just part of the hallucination. Makes sense. I'm just really glad that's the case." She yawned mightily. "Sorry."

"You are tired. Do you think you can sleep now?"

"Soon," Sam said. "It helps to talk."

Lantash nodded. "Would you like some tea? Janet has some that is soothing, for when you have trouble sleeping."

Sam smiled wryly. "Chamomile? She's tried getting me to drink it before."

"You do not like it? The version we've got here has lavender in it too, and I find the taste to be agreeable." He smiled. "Especially if you add honey."

"I wouldn't have thought it had an effect on you guys - or that you needed it."

"We can neutralize any effect, that is true. We can also decide not to. You are correct that we can induce sleep if we want to, that the symbiote can release calming chemicals into the host's bloodstream... however, a cup of warm tea can still be, well, _soothing_ ," Lantash admitted, giving her a wry smile.

Sam smiled. "I understand. And yes, I'd like a cup." She hesitated. "I understand if you need to leave, but I would like it if you could stay a little longer and keep me company."

"I will make a cup for us each," Lantash said, smiling.

* * *

Next morning, when they had finished clearing the table and putting the leftover food from the breakfast away, they all went to the living room to sit down.

"All right, time to make a plan," O'Neill said. "Yesterday we talked about needing a way to tell if someone is who they say they are, of if they're really one of those _Targs_ , wearing a mimetic device."

"Right. That should be one of our top priorities - seeing as if we'll probably need it if we're to convince anyone we're not crazy," Jacob added.

"Carter - did you have any idea how to fix that disruption device of yours? Making it work for the new version of the mimetic devices?" O'Neill asked.

Sam considered it for a moment, then she shrugged. "I'm not sure, really. There's several ways they could have changed their device, but I believe disrupting it with an audio signal should still work. Problem is, they may have protected it with something."

"Such as...?" O'Neill asked.

"I don't know. It would be difficult to block out an audio signal when you want the... being using the device to be able to hear what's going on around them, and what's said to them."

"But not impossible, since they know which frequencies are involved," Lantash said. "They could perhaps use a variation of a forceshield to filter the sounds out that disrupts the device's function."

"Selmak agrees," Jacob said. "It's likely what they've done."

"Okay, we don't have that much experience with forceshields, but if you guys think we can find a way to adjust for it, then it shouldn't be too much of a problem disturbing the mimic device - even if they've managed to make it less sensitive or changed the frequencies it's sensitive to," Sam said.

"We can. We probably have something we can use on the teltac, but we will need something more from a Tau'ri electronics store," Lantash said.

"We would also need a test subject," Malek said. "Don't forget that."

"Well, if you know where the aliens hang out, then we can probably get you one. We did get a look at some of the people that was in the facility with us, so I guess it's just finding one of those walking around," O'Neill suggested.

"That doesn't sound so easy," Daniel said. "We only had time to check around briefly, so we'd need luck to run into one of the aliens masquerading as one of those."

"We'll find a way," O'Neill insisted.

"Okay, in that case I suggest we go to Colorado Springs. It's alien headquarters, and since most of the people from the Air Force you could have seen at the facility is probably there, it'll be the most likely place to find us our test subject," Jacob said.

"SG-1 will go," O'Neill said.

"No. Sorry, Jack, but I don't think that's a good idea. They're looking for you. _Especially_ now."

"Right. They obviously know we were rescued. Which means they'll be looking for you too, I guess," O'Neill reminded him.

"They only got a good look at Malek, but yeah, he can't go," Jacob said.

"You will need someone from SG-1, in order to recognize probable aliens," Teal'c said. "I will go."

Jacob nodded. "You're the best option, I agree. Jack and Daniel are both 'known', since the aliens pretending to be them were highly placed."

"What about me, then?" Sam said.

"You should stay and relax, Sam," Janet said. "You've only just recovered from a very bad infection, which could have killed you."

"I'm fine."

"You are, but your body has been through a lot. And the three of you are still weak from not using your muscles for months," Janet said. Besides, you need to help constructing that device."

Sam nodded reluctantly. "Right. Okay."

"Teal'c, Aldwin, and I goes," Jacob said. "The rest of you find out what you need to make that device. Also, Lantash - or you, Sam - should check if there is any talk among the aliens about us."


	12. Preparations for a Mission

"You hacked their systems?" Sam asked, impressed.

"Yes, I believe that is the word your people use. We needed information about the alien bases, and the aliens movements. Unfortunately, we can only access the lowest level of the secured systems," Martouf said, sitting down before a computer.

"But you don't know anything about our computers!"

"We have been here a month, Samantha. Tok'ra learn quickly." His expression became somewhat arrogant. "We also have knowledge of much more advanced computer systems than your planet has."

Sam rolled her eyes. "Of _course_ you do! What's the problem getting into the more secure levels?"

He hesitated for a moment. "We are not completely sure, but we believe that there is some sort of telepathic signal involved, which is necessary to authenticate for higher and more secure levels. A signal that possibly are sent through a network that connects all the aliens in some way."

"Oh." Sam frowned. "Well that could certainly make things more difficult. How are we going to avoid the alien giving away our location then, if we do capture one?"

"Jacob and Aldwin returned to the Tok'ra in our teltac to report, about two weeks ago. When they came back they brought some devices we will need, including a stasis chamber. The alien will be placed in that until we learn how to block their transmissions."

"Okay. Sounds good." She sat down on a chair beside him. "Let me see what you've found on their computers until now."

* * *

"Okay, I give up! You're right - there doesn't seem to be any way of getting through to their more secure levels!" Sam exclaimed, sending the computer a disgusted look.

"We do not have any means of authenticating, no, and that seems necessary. Perhaps we will when we capture one of the aliens," Lantash said.

Sam nodded. "Let's hope so." She sighed. "These computers seems weirdly old and outdated."

Lantash raised his eyebrows. "It does seem slow compared with our computers, but I had thought it was a fairly new computer for your world?"

"Oh, it is." She shook her head. "Never mind, it's just me comparing it to the fancier computers I - or some of the others - had dreamed up in the hallucination."

Lantash nodded. "I understand."

"Hi, guys! Found anything useful?" O'Neill asked, sticking his head into the room.

"Not a lot, sir," Sam said. "We did confirm that we're wanted, after our escape - and that they've got Malek's picture too, but we knew that."

"No signs of the Targs knowing _where_ we are? Or that the Tok'ra are here?"

"There is no indication of that," Lantash said. "We are safe. For now, at least."

"Okay." O'Neill nodded. "Keep an eye on it regularly." He went and closed the door. "One more thing..."

"Sir?" Sam asked, confused.

"Before we go further with this, and send people off on their own - I _really_ need to know that everyone can be trusted. And in this situation that means knowing that no one is a Targ. Marty showed us he bleeds red, and I trust SG-1, but the rest? Carter, do you sense their symbiotes?"

Sam nodded. "Yes, I do. Well, except for Janet, of course, but I'd assume the Tok'ra know she can be trusted and have checked her out." She looked to Lantash.

"We have." He turned to O'Neill. "I understand your concern, sir. It is certainly valid. However, I assure you no one here is an impostor. We also make sure no one leaves this place alone - or is left behind here alone."

"Good," O'Neill said, relieved. "Then we're good. Carry on."

* * *

"Sam?" Jacob asked. "What is it?"

"I... just wanted to talk to you," Sam said, feeling a bit embarrassed.

"About what? Can't it wait?*

Sam nodded. "Sure. Actually, I just wanted to, well, tell you to take care." She smiled.

"Of course. I always do." He frowned, then sighed. "Selmak reminds me you've spent some time hallucinating that I was dead. Sorry."

Sam shook her head. "No worries. By the way - do you know how Mark and his family is doing?"

"I know they're alive. We decided it would be too risky to contact them, all things considered, but Janet called them for me. She talked to Mark's wife, pretending to be calling for you, since she's your friend. It's soon Lisa's birthday, so Janet said you wanted to know if she wanted something."

"Sneaky," Sam agreed. "She's... uh, Four...? Six?" She groaned. "I'm sorry. Damn hallucination! She's five."

Jacob nodded. "Right. Anyway, Marian sounded perfectly normal and told Janet what Lisa wanted - and a boy shouted something in the background about wanting a gift too."

"Great, so William is okay too," Sam said, relieved. "Wait! It just _was_ Lisa's birthday!"

"Yes, and we sent her a nice gift from you - and one from me. And something for William too." Jacob smiled, then spotted Aldwin and Teal'c in the doorway.. "Okay, honey? I'll have to go now."

"Good luck." She gave Jacob a hug.

* * *

"Make sure to keep the hat on at all times. A Jaffa is going to stick out like a sore thumb," Jacob reminded Teal'c.

Teal'c inclined his head. "I will." He adjusted the hat.

"Well, I guess we take a walk, try to lay low," Jacob said, pulling the hood of his jacket up. "We don't want to risk being recognized."

They had flown their teltac to the forests just outside Colorado Springs, and cloaked it. After stealing a car, they had driven into the city.

They parked the car behind a bar, and got out. The place was known as one of the bars frequented by Air Force personnel, including those from Stargate Command. Hopefully they would see someone there whom Teal'c had noticed at the alien facility in Alaska.

Of course, it was a dangerous gamble, since someone could recognize Teal'c - or maybe even Jacob. However, it was now late Friday evening, there was a lot of people, and both Teal'c and Jacob were dressed in a way that concealed them quite well.

They entered the bar, without anyone paying attention to them. Instructed by Jacob, Aldwin went to the bar and ordered beer for himself and Jacob, and a ginger ale for Teal'c.

The place was crowded, but they managed to find a spot by the wall, from where they could overlook the bar.

"Do you really think an alien would go to a bar, or get a drink?" Aldwin wondered in a low voice.

"Given that we're all - one way or another - aliens here, then I guess the answer to that is yes," Jacob whispered, a wry smile on his face. "Relax, I know what you meant, and you're right, maybe not, but they may feel they have to, in order to... blend in."

Aldwin nodded and took a drink from his beer. He grimaced. "This is quite bitter."

Jacob grinned, and just took a long drink from his own bottle.

* * *

"Is it not unusual for humans to go to a bar and not drink alcohol?" Teal'c wondered, when they had left the bar, without spotting anyone he had seen at the facility.

"Well, no. There's some people who for one reason or another doesn't drink alcohol. You don't, for instance."

"I am a Jaffa," Teal'c said.

Jacob nodded. "Yes, and you're right that it's strange how many we noticed _not_ drinking. They could be aliens, but we can't just walk up to them and _ask_. Not in such a large group of people such as this. It could be very dangerous. We just need to be sure."

They got back into their car.

"Where should we go now?" Aldwin asked.

"Dinner?" Jacob asked.

"Indeed. It has been many hours since we ate," Teal'c said.

"Okay, anyone up for pizza?" Jacob suggested.

"I am 'up' for pizza," Teal'c answered.

"Aldwin? You've tried it - that's the flat round breads with various toppings that we had during the first week we were here."

Aldwin nodded. "I remember. Yes, that would be agreeable."

"General Carter, if you continue to the end of this street, and then turn left, there is a pizza restaurant where we got pizza's when..." Teal'c stopped what he was saying. "My apologies. That event... did not happen in reality."

"Well, maybe not, but there _is_ a pizza place there," Jacob said. "I vote we try it. No reason why it can't be good in reality too - someone in the simulation probably knew about it."


	13. Capturing an Alien

"Stop!" Teal'c whispered, when they were about to get into the car after getting pizza. "Major Ferretti."

Jacob and Aldwin looked in the direction Teal'c was indicating, seeing a man enter the pizza restaurant.

"He's one of the people you saw at the alien facility?" Jacob asked.

"He is," Teal'c confirmed.

"Then he is likely a, a _Targ_ ," Aldwin said.

"All right. We follow him, and see if we can grab him." Jacob looked around. It was quite late, almost midnight, in fact, and not many people were nearby. "No car parked here - either he's walking, or he's parked somewhere else.

They put the pizzas into the car and went to stand where they would not be seen when 'Ferretti' exited the pizzeria again.

Some time later, 'Ferretti' left the pizza place and walked down the street. Jacob and the others followed, trying to seem like they were just three friends out for a walk.

"He has bought several boxes of pizza. No doubt he is meeting someone," Teal'c observed.

"In which case we need to get to him before he reaches those people," Aldwin added.

'Ferretti' turned left, into an alley. No one else was around.

"Now!" Jacob whispered.

They all rushed forward, closing the distance between them and 'Ferretti' quickly. He heard them running towards him, and turned around, dropping the pizza-boxes. He reached inside his coat, and brought out a gun.

Teal'c was on him before he could use the weapon, and they fell to the ground together.

"Help! _Assault_!" 'Ferretti' got out, before Teal'c had knocked him out.

After making sure no one else was watching, Jacob shot 'Ferretti' with a zat'nik'tel when Teal'c had jumped off him.

"Do we know that will work on such a creature?" Aldwin asked.

"No, but what choice do we have? Don't forget that the aliens are probably able to communicate telepathically - and call for help," Jacob said. He bent down and snatched the gun from 'Ferretti'. "Let's get out of here - quickly."

A door slammed open. "What is going on here!" an angry voice demanded.

Three more angry people spilled from the door.

"You don't want to get involved!" Jacob threatened, aiming the gun at the approaching people.

"On the contrary - it is _you_ who do not wish to be involved!" the front man hissed menacingly, as he grabbed for his weapon.

His two compatriots were drawing their weapons too. Aldwin fired his zat'nik'tel at the leader, but there was no reaction. Jacob, who was armed with a gun, shot at the leader, causing purple blood to leak out.

The leader fell to his knees, and uttered something in the guttural language of the mimetic aliens, and the two men with him fired immediately at Jacob and Aldwin, who jumped for safety.

Teal'c had quickly moved behind a container when it all started, and so their enemies did not seem to have noticed him. He now took advantage of that, grabbing a heavy rock from the ground and hurling it towards the nearest of the two men shooting at Jacob and Aldwin. The rock impacted hard, and the target fell over, unmoving.

This gave Jacob and Aldwin the opportunity to finish off the other guy, and the street was silent again.

"Well that answered that," Jacob said. "Zat'nik'tels doesn't work on the aliens."

"And they _are_ , ah, _aliens_ \- all three of them," Aldwin pointed out.

The purple blood was flowing from the two dead aliens, who had turned back into their natural form. Blood was also seeping from the head of the alien Teal'c had hit with a rock, but he still looked like the human he was masquerading as.

"He... _it_ is still alive, but unconscious," Aldwin said, hesitantly leaning down to check on the injured alien. "What do we do about him?"

"He's seen us, and we can't take more than one anyway. Only one option," Jacob said, firing a shot at the alien's head, killing him. "We only have one stasis chamber. Come on - we need to get out of here before someone shows up!"

They heard sirens approaching. It was clear someone had called the police.

"What if 'Ferretti' wakes up? The zat'nik'tel did not work on them," Aldwin reminded them, when they were hurrying back to their car, with Teal'c carrying the unconscious alien.

"There are other ways of rendering someone unconscious," Teal'c said.

No one seemed to want to stop them, and they reached their car moments later.

However, they had barely turned out on the street, before two police cars appeared at the other end.

" _Damn_!" Jacob exclaimed, stepping hard on the speeder.

"The alien is waking up," Teal'c said.

"Keep him unconscious! I don't care how!" Jacob ordered, turning into another street. "Just don't kill him!"

The police cars were still after them, and the road they were going down now had more traffic, meaning it was harder to steer when going fast, overtaking the other cars.

"The zat'nik'tels may work against the police vehicles," Teal'c said, rolling down the window. He reached out and aimed at the nearest of the followers, then firing.

"No! Wait! We don't know if..." Jacob began.

Blue light enveloped the police car, and its engine stopped. The car continued for a while longer, then slowly stopped completely.

"I was successful," Teal'c announced. "The other vehicle is still pursuing." He fired at that one too, with the same result.

"Well done, Teal'c!" Aldwin exclaimed.

Jacob continued at high speed until they were out of the city. More sirens could be heard, but they were distant now . He let out a sigh of relief as he turned onto the road into the forest, towards where they had parked their teltac.

"Sorry, Teal'c. I was worried the police officers inside the cars would be affected. If they'd become unconscious with the cars still running, it could have resulted in a nasty accident, with many dead and injured."

"You are correct. However, I remember Major Carter telling me electricity cannot enter a car. I merely... assumed the same would be true for the energy of a zat'nik'tel shot," Teal'c explained.

"Well, it worked, and we got away. What about the alien?" Jacob asked.

"Unconscious, but alive," Teal'c said.

"I wonder if it is a natural feature which makes them immune to zat'nik'tel fire, or if it has to due with their suits. It looked like they had some sort of exoskeleton, in addition to the armor they wore," Aldwin said.

"Unknown. It would be nice to know, though, so it's too bad we didn't get a chance to bring one of the dead aliens," Jacob said.

They continued along a forest road for maybe ten minutes, then Jacob parked the car behind some bushes.

"The other Targs will probably be in trouble when the police finds the dead aliens, since they look so... well, _alien_ ," Aldwin said.

"Unless the police are not human," Teal'c said.

"And if they are, the police officers will probably be killed off before they get a chance to say anything." Jacob sighed. "I have a feeling the Targs have Colorado Springs very much in their grasp."

They decloaked their teltac and got inside, Teal'c carrying the alien who was by now waking up again.

"We need to get him into stasis quickly!" Teal'c warned.

Teal'c put the Ferretti-impostor inside the stasis chamber and Jacob and Aldwin activated it.

"All right, that should stop him from regaining consciousness and reporting on us," Jacob said, relieved.

"What about the Tau'ri vehicle we used?" Aldwin wondered.

"The car?" Jacob considered it. "We're leaving it. It's more than likely someone saw it and can recognize it. We'll fly back to the others in the teltac, _all_ of us."

"Day is breaking," Teal'c observed.

"Right, we'd better get out of here before someone shows up and starts searching the area. We don't know how technologically advanced the Targs are - if they can detect our ship," Jacob said.

* * *

"I believe we have all the components we need now," Martouf said.

Sam nodded. "I agree."

"Okay, let's get the Hell out of here, then," O'Neill said, throwing nervous glances around the place.

"Dad said they had gotten stuff from this place before, and that no one is guarding it," Sam said, taking a look at what was in a box on a shelf. "It's storage for Boise State University - old stuff one step away from getting thrown out, so probably not something they check on every year." She picked something out of the box and added it to the box of stuff she was taking.

"Good. I'll still feel better when we're out of here," O'Neill said. "And back in Janet's sister's cabin. It's about 120 miles from here - 3-4 hours drive, so we should get going."

"It is also the middle of the night," Martouf reminded him. "Not many people will be out on the roads."

"Maybe, but that also means we stick out more," O'Neill said. "Come on."

They left the storage building, making sure the door locked behind them, and then they loaded the stuff into their car.

"We possibly need an extra power supply," Sam suddenly said. "Maybe a small generator too."

"We have brought several extra liquid naquadah power cells, so it is more than enough," Martouf said.

Sam nodded. "Okay, great!"

They got into the car and O'Neill drove out onto the small road leading from the place. They met no one, and soon they could turn out onto a larger street. He let out a sigh of relief when no one was there to notice them.

* * *

It was after noon when they got up the next day, after returning very late night.

"I wonder how my dad, Teal'c, and Aldwin are doing," Sam said, worried, as she sat down to eat breakfast - or rather late lunch.

"I am certain they are well, Samantha. They are all experienced operatives and warriors," Martouf told her.

"I know. I just don't like sitting here, not being part of it." She poured herself a cup of coffee and took a slice of toast. "Let's hope they capture one of the aliens, so we can test the disruption device - when we get it built."

"Targs. I wonder how many there are of them. The facility we were in seemed pretty full, so if that's any indication..." O'Neill said. He grabbed the box of cereal and poured some into his bowl.

"Martouf, you guys said you'd found out that the aliens were concentrated in five localities - aside from Colorado Springs and Washington. Do you know it there are any more facilities like the one we were in, among them?" Sam wondered.

Martouf nodded. "We are fairly certain there is at least one more. Possibly several more. We have the locations, but we have not yet had the opportunity to send someone there to find out." He took a drink from his glass of milk.

"Hi, guys!" Daniel said, going to sit down with the others. "I thought I'd grab a cup of coffee with you sleepyheads."

O'Neill snorted. "You didn't spend the night robbing storerooms and driving through half of Idaho!"

"That's maybe a bit of an exaggeration..." Sam said.

"Malek says he just got a message from Jacob - they've caught one of the aliens and have him in a stasis chamber," Daniel told them. "The alien was masquerading as _Ferretti_!"

"Ferretti? Really?" O'Neill said.

"They won't come back here until tonight, because they don't know if the aliens will be able to detect the teltac, even if it's cloaked."

Sam nodded. "That makes sense. A ship with an active power signature, particularly while flying through the atmosphere, can be detected. Even if it's cloaked. " She smiled. "I'm glad the mission was successful."

"Agreed. We should get to work on the disruption device as soon as we have eaten," Martouf said.

"Great!" O'Neill smiled. "Soon we'll be able to kick the Targs asses, I'm sure!"


	14. A Walk in the Forest

"So, this is what I used to disrupt the mimetic device originally," Sam said, turning on the small machine. A loud tone was emitted. "Unfortunately, it no longer works." She turned it off again.

"Unless it does, and they just found a way to shield for it," Martouf suggested.

"True," Sam conceded. "We should start by looking into that."

"Samantha, we cannot do much until we have studied the... _Targ_ , and scanned the frequencies his forceshield - if any - protect against."

"So you're using that stupid name too, now." Sam sighed.

"It is better than calling them 'aliens'. Or 'extra-terrestrials', as I have heard Janet do. Aliens can be anyone, and extra-terrestrials could just as well be us Tok'ra."

Sam smiled. "You're right."

He returned her smile. "Lantash suggests we take a break. There are still a couple of hours of daylight. Would you like to take a walk?"

Sam nodded. "Yeah, getting some fresh air sounds nice, actually." She stretched. " _Very_ nice."

* * *

They were walking along a narrow path, following a river that meandered through the forest that Janet's sister's cabin was located in. Firs and tall pines stood closely, with smaller bushes and grass growing in the open patches, and along the river.

She smiled at him. "It was a great idea, going for a walk. I really needed to clear my head."

"Lantash and I have also enjoyed our walk, Samantha."

"It's... great working with you on the disruption device." She glanced quickly at him.

"As dark as the situation is, working with you is something we truly appreciate."

"I really hope we're going to succeed. I must admit it almost seems hopeless. We don't know _who_ we can trust!" Sam stopped. "Sorry, I need to take a break. I'm still not back to full strength." She took several deep breaths.

He stopped as well. "It is understandable. You have not used your muscles much for many months."

She looked at him, then down, shaking her head. "Sometimes it all still seems unreal. I mean, you being here - and dad, Janet, Aldwin... so many people that I thought were dead."

"It does sound as if the world you created with your minds, was not a pleasant one. Even compared to this one."

She thought about it for a moment. "Yes - and no. It is true that there was a lot of terrible things that happened, and a lot of people died that I... well, it was painful." She cleared her throat, and swallowed, clearly affected by the memories.

Martouf put his hand on her elbow. "I am sorry you have such painful memories. At least they were not of the real world."

Sam nodded. "True. There was some good things that happened too, though. We killed all the System Lords, for instance. And the Jaffa, and many human worlds, were free. Of course, that led to chaos, and..." She shook her head. "Never mind. It's no use dwelling on something that never happened."

"The System Lords being gone would be worth a great deal of other misery, I will say that," Martouf said. "Lantash and I would happily lay down our lives, if it meant that menace was gone."

"I agree that the end of the System Lords would be a wonderful thing, and that I'd sacrifice a lot for that to happen." She gave him a small smile. "I just _really_ don't want your lives to be one of those things."

He took her hand and squeezed it. "We are both alive and well, and I promise you we intend to stay that way. As for the fall of the System Lords? That is something that _will_ happen, eventually. We must believe that, Samantha. The Tau'ri and Tok'ra will succeed, together."

"I very much want to believe you." She sighed and closed her eyes for a moment, drawing a deep breath. "It's so nice here," she said. "Peaceful. Standing here, it's hard to believe the planet is being threatened by aliens. _Targs_."

Martouf nodded. "Yes, it _is_ very pleasant here."

She shivered a little. "The sun is setting, and it's getting dark down here among the trees. We should return before it gets too cold. It's the middle of October, after all." She pulled her jacket closer around her.

"Are you cold?" Martouf asked, concerned.

"A little. Let's begin walking again, that'll help."

They walked for a short time, then Martouf turned to her, since it was obvious she was still feeling cold.

"Do you want to borrow my jacket?"

"No! Of course not! I don't want you to freeze!"

"I would manage. Lantash can temporarily raise my body temperature."

"That's nice, but I bet it would still be unpleasant." She smiled at him. "Thanks, but keep your jacket. I'm not _that_ cold, just a little chilly."

"All right." He smiled. "Let's get back to the cabin."

They walked side by side through the now rapidly darkening forest. Sam was very quiet for much of the walk, but then she suddenly reached for his hand.

"Martouf... Lantash... you have no idea how happy I am that you are alive. I missed you guys so much."

He smiled. "Thank you."

She gave him an embarrassed smile, and pulled her hand away. "Sorry, you must think I'm an idiot."

"Samantha! I would never think such a thing about you!" He looked hurt.

"Thanks," she mumbled.

He took her hand again, caressing it with his thumb. "Samantha, as I told you before, Lantash and I very much enjoy spending time with you. We... have become very fond of you."

When she did not pull her hand away, he entwined his fingers with hers.

Sam looked down at their hands, clearly having a feeling of deja-vu. She smiled. "I was thinking of that time in the desert."

Martouf nodded. "Me as well. I... apologize for what I said back then, when I asked you to become host to Selmak."

She shook her head. "Forget it. I know I got angry then... or maybe scared is a better word for it, but that was a long time ago. Well, a couple years, at least. Anyway, I understand why you did it. You missed her. _Jolinar_."

"I did. Sometimes I still do, but now I am able to think of the happy times we had without being sad." He gave her a half-smile. "Well, maybe a little... melancholy, sometimes."

"Well, it's good you've gotten there."

"Yes, it is. Also, I want you to understand that the, the _fondness_ Lantash and I feel for you is _not_ because of Jolinar."

She smiled. "Thanks. I'm glad to hear that. I think of you as, as a close friend too."

They slowly began to walk again, holding hands as they continued back to the cabin.

* * *

"Ah, _finally_! We were about to send out a patrol to look for you kids!" O'Neill said, when they entered the house. "I've made my famous pancakes, and they're getting cold!"

Sam grinned. "Sorry, sir."

"Truly. It was... _thoughtless_ of us to stay out so long," Martouf said, raising an eyebrow.

O'Neill shook his head. "My cooking is too good for you! And here I was thinking of making omelettes for breakfast tomorrow."

Sam rolled her eyes. "With you secret ingredient?"

"Of course!" He left for the kitchen. "Come and get it, guys!"

Martouf looked at Sam with confusion. "Secret ingredient?"

"Beer," She smiled "Come on - I'm hungry."

* * *

"Hi," Sam said, walking up to Janet who was going through a box of medical supplies that Malek and Daniel had brought back from a trip to the city.

"Oh, hi, Sam!" Janet smiled. "How are you doing now?"

"Much better. The infection is gone, as you know, as is any trace of the wound on my arm."

Janet nodded. "Those healing devices are pretty fantastic." She gave her a sceptical look from top to bottom. "Still, you were very sick."

"Stop worrying, Janet. Only thing that's still bothering me is that damn weakness from not using our muscles for all that time we were in the alien facility. I _really_ hope that passes soon."

"It will get better when you use your muscles, but it can take a long time to get completely back to normal. Many months, actually."

Sam grimaced. "Damn." She sat down beside Janet. "I wanted to ask you something else. Cassie - do you know how she's doing?"

Janet smiled. "She's fine. With my sister, actually. I didn't think it would be safe for her to go with us here, so I... told her I had to do some offworld work and that she had to stay and go to school. She wasn't happy, I can tell you _that_."

"I believe you." Sam smiled.

"She eventually accepted it, though. She also promised not to tell my sister, and just say I had taken on some important work for the Air Force in a place where it wouldn't be safe to bring Cassie. I think my sister thinks I'm in the Middle East, and she sure didn't approve, but she promised to look after Cassie for me."

Sam nodded. "I'm glad to hear she's safe. I really miss her, and I look forward to seeing her again."

"Me too. Very much," Janet said.

"So, tell me. You and Malek?" Sam grinned.

Janet rolled her eyes. "Yeah. Me and Malek."

* * *

"Welcome back, dad!" Sam smiled, giving her father a hug. "You too, Teal'c - and Aldwin."

"Hi, guys!" O'Neill said. "You got one of the Targs?"

"Indeed. He is currently in a stasis chamber onboard the teltac," Teal'c told them.

"Yeah, we thought it was best not to risk him being awake and seeing anything here. We don't really know how their telepathy works, or if they can somehow use it to locate one of their own," Jacob said.

"Probably a good idea," O'Neill agreed.

"You've made any progress on the disruption device?" Jacob asked.

Sam nodded. "Yeah, dad. We've got it as far as we can without more research on the alien. We can get on that immediately"

"Not without eating your breakfast, hmm?" Janet said, stepping into the room. She smiled at Jacob and the others. "Hi, guys!"

"Are we going to interrogate this, uh, _Targ_?" Daniel wondered. "I mean, we could probably get a lot of information from him, if we just find a way to stop him from communicating with the other aliens."

"That is doubtful," Teal'c said.

"We took the teltac out of the solar system - I mean, that has _got_ to be beyond the reach of their telepathy, right?" Jacob said. "We then tried letting him out of stasis, only to learn that while the mimicking effect was still working, he wasn't connected to the mind of Ferretti any longer. He couldn't - or _wouldn't_ , I guess - speak anything but that guttural alien language."

"So we can't interrogate him unless he's receiving some sort of transmission, namely from the mind he's linked to. Question is if we're going to be able to filter out all other transmissions - and if we can be sure he can't use the mind link to do anything else," Sam said.

"Well, it's doubtful he'd say anything anyway," O'Neill observed. "Remember how willing they were to sacrifice themselves last time they attacked. Not the types to cave under interrogations."

"Okay, but at least we can use him to figure out how to disrupt their mimetic devices - and maybe learn something about their telepathy," Sam said.


	15. Learning About the Aliens

"No effect," Sam said, adjusting the disruption device again. "Nothing now either."

"I believe we can conclude the aliens have found a way of blocking the signals their mimetic devices are sensitive to," Lantash said.

"Yes, it certainly looks that way."

"There is no obvious forceshield, though." He carefully touched the sleeve of the alien before them, who was looking disturbingly like Ferretti. The alien glared at him, but said nothing. Not that they would have been able to understand it if it had, since they had removed the mindlink to Ferretti. "But I do believe it most likely they are using an adaption of that technology to block the signals."

They were on the teltac, which they had flown to the back of the Moon to diminish any risk of the alien communicating with his people. They had removed one of the two devices the alien wore, namely the one that facilitated the mindlink. Since it seemed to be out of range, it did not truly matter, but it was one device less to worry about.

They were currently landed on the surface of the Moon, and was working inside the teltac's cargo deck.

Lantash went to pick up a Tok'ra scanning device. He spent some moments adjusting it. "Try running through the same range of frequencies again. Perhaps we can detect some reaction when we hit the right frequency."

Sam again went through all the frequencies close to the tone that had previously disrupted the mimetic device, while Lantash scanned the alien. The alien itself stoically ignored them, clearly well aware it could not escape the fastenings that held it when the stasis chamber was not activated.

"Anything?"

He hesitated, then shook his head. "Yes and no. There is a very faint signal, almost so faint that it could just be noise. There _seemed_ to be a small fluctuation, but... I can't be sure. Could you run through those frequencies again, and increase the intensity?"

"Sure. Ready?"

* * *

"This isn't working, and my ears are starting to hurt from all this noise!" Sam complained. She threw a look at the alien. "I think the smug son of a bitch is laughing at us!"

"I, too, would appreciate a break from this," Lantash admitted. "I do think we are on the right track. Whenever your disruption device hits one of a small number of frequencies, there are small fluctuations in that faint signal coming from the alien."

"Very faint. It could just be random noise," Sam said.

"Yes, but I do not believe that to be the case. I will feed this data to the computer, and then let it analyze it. We should go and get something to eat meanwhile."

Sam sighed, but nodded. "Agreed." She flipped the switch that activated the stasis chamber again, and the alien became immobile.

Lantash connected the scanner to a small computer with a holographic screen, and typed in a few commands. "The data will transfer and I have set up the analysis."

They grabbed a couple sandwiches and a bottle of water each, then went to the flight deck and sat down.

For a while they ate in silence, with Martouf and Lantash clearly discussing something amongst themselves, and Sam looking at the scenery outside.

"You know, it is strange being here," she said.

"I am sorry?" Martouf asked, clearly not having paid attention.

"On the Moon. While growing up, and later too - actually until I got involved with the Stargate project - I wanted to be an astronaut."

Martouf nodded. "Yes, I remember Jacob telling me. People from your world who travel to space."

"Yes. Well, at most the Moon, as things currently stand." She smiled. "Anyway, I've travelled much further than that, but it's still, well, _nice_ to actually have made it here too."

He smiled back. "I understand." His eyes became unfocused for a moment, as he talked something over with Lantash. "Would you like to take a short walk on the surface?"

"You mean, _outside_?"

"Yes. There are usually a couple spacesuits - for the eventuality of someone needing to go outside for a repair job."

"Wow." She grinned. "Yeah, sure. I'd like that." Her expression turned serious. "But we ought to continue working on the device."

"It - and the alien - will go no where. We will just be gone for a short time."

She nodded slowly. "Yes. Let's do it!"

* * *

Sam took a careful step out of the teltac. As soon as she left the vessel, the artificial gravity was no longer affecting her, and she found herself in the 0.17 G.

She walked a few steps, then made a small jump, landing slower and softer than she would have on Earth. She then made a long jump, almost tumbling, but righting herself at the last moment. She grinned. "This is _awesome_!"

Martouf smiled when her words came through the communication device in his suit. He took a few springy steps, then made an experimental jump. "Neither Lantash nor I have tried this before either. It is certainly... _different_."

Sam had jumped ahead with long, jumpy strides. He tried to move faster to catch up with her, but only succeeded in almost falling. He gave Lantash control, when the symbiote insisted he could do better.

Lantash made a few careful steps, then instead started moving with a sort of jumping walk, like Sam did. He quickly caught up with her. "As Martouf said, this is different!" He smiled. "And _fun_!"

Sam laughed. "Very fun! Your spacesuits are much lighter than ours, making this a _lot_ easier!" She gave him an awkward hug. "Thank you so much for suggesting this, guys!"

* * *

When they returned to the teltac, the computer had long since finished the analysis.

"What does it say?" Sam asked, sitting down beside Lantash who was typing something.

"There is in fact a very faint shield around the alien, probably created by their suit. It has been adapted to send out a signal that blocks the frequencies that interferes with their mimicking device. It only becomes active when it is needed, and otherwise lies dormant. That is one of the reasons we didn't discover it - that and the very low energy output."

"Great! Then we can maybe disrupt the shield?"

"It should certainly be possible, we just need to know more about it." He got up to fetch the scanner he had used before, as well as one of another type. He set up one of them so it pointed towards the stasis chamber, then handed the other to Sam after making a small adjustment to its settings. "I am going to try and interfere with the shield. Could you scan it while I do so? The other scanner will send data about the mimetic device to the computer, which we can use to compare with later."

"Sure. Why don't we set up the disruption device to send out the exact tone that should stop the mimetic device from working? Then we can immediately see what's going on too."

Lantash nodded. "We can do that, but I don't expect to have enough success in interfering with the shield yet. Not so much that the tone will get through, so it will merely be a, ah, _nuisance_."

Sam gave him a wry smile. "The sound is getting on your nerves? Mine too, so let's wait with that."

He gave her a warm smile. "Thank you." He picked up a small device. "Let's get started?"

"Absolutely. Ready when you are."

* * *

"All right, so with more power, that _should_ overload the shield," Sam concluded.

"Yes. I will attempt to boost the power with one of the liquid naquadah power cells," Martouf said.

A low buzzing was heard from the communicator lying on the table where they were working.

Sam grabbed it. "Hello?"

" _What are you doing? Food has been ready for more than an hour!_ " O'Neill's annoyed voice sounded from the communicator.

Sam checked the time. "Oops, looks like we forgot the time. Listen, we just want to run one more test, then we'll be back. One hour. Tops!"

" _You've been at it since morning. Get back here now, Sam!_ " Jacob's voice sounded in the communicator as he took it from O'Neill.

Sam rolled her eyes. "Hi dad. We've had some success. We'd just like to see if our finding will work in practicality."

"We will return very soon, Jacob," Martouf said. "The aliens are using a modified forceshield to block the frequencies which disrupts the mimetic device, and we believe we have found a way to interfere with the shields ability to..."

" _Not another egghead!_ " O'Neill complained. " _Fine! Finish whatever you're doing, but don't complain that the food is bad! O'Neill out._ "

"He is angry with us?" Martouf asked. "Egghead?"

"Another word for scientists. Not a nice one." She shook her head. "Never mind, he's always like that. He'll be happy when we get it to work."

* * *

"Yes! The shield shuts down!" Sam exclaimed, when Martouf made the third attempt, and activated the small device he was holding. "Wait, I need to try sending the disruption signal also."

"Hurry up! This will not last long!" Martouf warned, looking at the jury rigged interference device.

Sam flipped the switch and a loud tone filled the room. The image of Ferretti flickered for a moment, then disappeared, only to be replaced by the image of the alien, as it looked normally.

"Yes! Success!" Sam said, throwing her arms around Martouf and giving him a tight hug.

Surprised, it took a few moments for Martouf to react, but then he raised his arms to embrace her too. Before he could do so, he let out a low cry and threw the device he had been holding to the ground.

" _Ouch_!"

"Sorry!" Sam said, embarrassed. "What happened?"

Martouf was looking at his hand, and then at the device on the ground. He sighed. "The device overloaded and became too hot for me to hold. Don't worry - the injury was small, and will quickly heal." He picked up the device, protecting his hand with his sleeve. He looked at it for a moment, then put it down on the table. "It's cooling already."

"We'll worry about the device later. Let me see your hand," Sam said, worried.

"There truly is no reason for concern, Samantha." He held up his hand so she could see.

The palm and fingers were an angry red colour, but except for in one place, the skin was not broken.

Sam let out a sigh of relief. "Let's get something cold for that." She grabbed some napkins and went out to the bathroom and poured cold water over them, then returned.

Martouf had reactivated the stasis chamber, and was studying the small device he had used to overload the forceshield. "I believe the damage can be easily repaired, but we need some other way of shutting down their forceshields - we cannot capture every person we want to test, which is necessary when it has such a short range."

"I'm sure we'll figure something out. Hold out your hand!"

He did, obediently. "Your concern is appreciated, of course."

Sam nodded, gently holding the cold, wet paper towels against his hand. "Better?"

He dipped his head, and Lantash answered. "The cold helps against the pain. I can easily control it, but not having to do so means I can focus on healing." He smiled. "Thank you, Samantha."

She smiled at him, then her gaze went to the alien in the stasis chamber. "Do you think it can understand us when it's not connected via mindlink to a human?"

Lantash considered it, then nodded. "Yes. No doubt it has learned our language from the mindlink."

Sam nodded. "Martouf mentioned you thought they used telepathy to communicate, at least partially. Do you think they can read our minds?"

"No, if they could do _that_ , we would all have been caught long ago."

"You're right." She lifted the wet napkins from Lantash's hand. "I better go pour cold water on these again."

"It is not necessary, Samantha. The wound is almost gone."

She looked down at his hand, where only a slight redness indicated the burn had ever been there.

"Wow! You're incredible at healing!"

"It _was_ a very small injury," Lantash said, but he looked pleased at both the praise and her concern.

She gave his arm a squeeze. "We should return to Earth and get something to eat, before the Colonel calls again."

* * *

"Malek and Selmak feels they can take the prototype we made yesterday and make it more effective, hopefully getting it to work across longer distances," Martouf said. "We should attempt to learn more about the alien telepathy while they do that."

"Agreed. Do you have any ideas how to do that? I mean, it's not like we know what to scan for, do we? How much do you guys know about telepathy?" Sam asked, sitting down beside the pilot's seat in the teltac.

It was early morning, not long before sunrise. It had been agreed on that they would not take off or land during daytime, hoping to cut down on the risk of being discovered.

Martouf re-cloaked the ship and they lifted off. "A good deal. As you probably know, much Goa'uld technology is actually partially or wholly thought-controlled."

"Right, I know that, I just didn't think of it. Even the ships are partially controlled that way, especially the ha'tak and the alkesh, correct?"

"Yes. Also, the healing device, the kara'kesh, and the hara'kesh are all thought-controlled - the two latter even has some mind-altering possibilities. Particularly the hara'kesh, which is sometimes used to make someone forget what has transpired, for instance."

Sam nodded. "Yes, I remember the ashrak who was sent after Jolinar, he used his hara'kesh to confuse and make people forget they had seen him. Also, I think Sha're managed to send some sort of communication through the ribbon device - the kara'kesh - that Amaunet used to torture Daniel with."

"So you know these things already. Good, I should have expected you to." Martouf smiled at her before adjusting some of the controls as they sped through the upper part of the atmosphere. "Then you will not be surprised to hear that we also have the technology to scan for telepathic signals. Yes, the frequency will probably be different for these Targs, but that should not be a problem."

"How will we get the, the Targ to send out a telepathic signal? If we're outside of the range of their telepathy, I mean."

Martouf nodded. "Very true. He has no reason to send out the signal." He sighed. "Well, we will scan for it, and if we find nothing, we will have to take the teltac to some place nearer their facilities, and take the alien out of stasis. It is risky, but if we are cloaked and only does so for a short time, we should be able to get away before we are discovered. Hopefully."

* * *

"No luck?" Sam asked.

Lantash shook his head. "No. I'm afraid we'll have to risk taking the teltac closer to your planet."

Sam nodded. "Okay. Let's do it."

Lantash activated the stasis chamber again, and they made sure all the tools and instruments they would need were easily accessible and at hand.

"Do you know how to fly a teltac?" he asked. "If we need to get out of here quickly, it might be best if one of us is ready by the controls."

Sam was quiet for a little while before answering, "You know, I was about to say yes, but actually... I don't _know_ if I know." She shook her head.

"You had the ability in the alien simulation?"

She nodded. "Yes, but I don't think I have in reality."

"Perhaps you do. It is very likely that you remembered it, from Jolinar, and that it was the reason why you knew it there."

"Maybe..." Sam said, hesitantly.

"Would you like to try? I promise I will help you."

"Sure, but I fear it'll take a long time to learn it."

"Not if you already know how, but just doesn't actively remember. In any case, I can set most controls to automatic. It will not be difficult for you to learn enough to fly the ship like that, and it could be very useful."

Sam thought for a moment, then smiled at him. "All right. Let me try." She walked to the flight deck and sat down in the pilot's seat. "Let's see... what do I do..." She looked at the various controls, switches, buttons, and other instruments and panels. Uncertain, she touched one of the switches.

"Just relax and don't think about what you are doing. Allow the memories to guide you."

Sam took a deep breath and nodded, then flipped a switch, pushed a button, then moved a lever, before placing her hands on the steering controls. The teltac came to life, and lifted off.

"Wow!" Sam exclaimed.

"Very good!" Lantash said. "Now raise the shields... increase the power... yes, then adjust the angle..."

The teltac slowly rose above the Moon and straightened up. It was soon high above the surface.

"This is great!" Sam grinned.

Lantash smiled at her. "Now activate the cloak."

"How...?" Sam wondered.

He pointed to a switch. "It was added later, so the control for it is somewhat incongruous."

They flew around for a little while, Sam handling most of the piloting without problems.

"Could we try jumping to hyperspace, just for a moment?" she asked.

"Certainly. However, before doing so you must make sure the field is stable."

Sam studied the readout, then slowly turned a tuning dial with one hand, while steering the vessel with the other. "It's difficult... it keeps fluctuating."

"Turn it slowly, allowing it to adjust." He placed a hand over hers, guiding her. The field stabilized. Lantash threw a quick glance at the readout. "Go to hyperspeed now."

One moment the teltac was flying smoothly, then suddenly there was the abrupt jump as they went to hyperspace.

" _Yes_!" Sam exclaimed. "I can do this!" She gave him a warm smile.

"Of course you can, Samantha. I was never in doubt." Lantash smiled.

They flew on for a few moments without trouble, then turned around and soon took the teltac out of hyperspace.

"Fifteen minutes until we have to decelerate to enter Earth's atmosphere. That's correct, right?" Sam asked, looking at the readout.

"It is," Lantash confirmed. He hit a couple buttons. "The ship is now on autopilot. It will warn us five minutes before we reach the planet. We should go and check that all is ready for our tests."

Sam nodded. "Coming." She got up from the chair, then turned to hug Lantash. "Thank you for helping me fly the teltac!"

"You're welcome." He happily returned her embrace. "It was my pleasure," he murmured against her hair.

Sam pulled back enough that she could look into his eyes. Reacting to what she saw, she kissed him, moving her mouth slowly against his. He returned the kiss after only a moment's hesitation.

A short while later, Sam let go. "Um, sorry. I..."

Lantash frowned. "You have nothing to be sorry for. I was merely caught by surprise. That is why I did not react faster."

"Oh! Um, that's, that's good. I was worried you might not be interested here. In _reality_ , I mean, ah..."

"I assure you, if you fantasized that I wanted you, then you were most certainly correct!" Lantash smiled wryly. "Martouf is admonishing me for being so direct, but it is the truth!" He pulled her close again, his expression turning seductive. "May I kiss you again?"

Instead of answering, Sam wrapped her arms around him again and kissed him. The kiss started out soft and slow, but quickly became more passionate. Lantash pushed his tongue against her lips, and she parted them immediately, tangling her tongue with his.

After some moments, the kiss changed subtly, and Sam realized Martouf was now the one holding her.

Much too short a time later, they were interrupted by the ship's computer, warning them that they were approaching Earth and should go to manual control.

" _Damn_!" Sam grumbled, reluctantly letting go of Martouf/Lantash.

"Too bad we didn't travel further away from your world before," Martouf observed, going to handle the controls. He sent her a smile. "Ah, I hope you will be amenable to continue this later?"

"Absolutely," Sam said, her cheeks flushing a little.

* * *

"I've got it!" Martouf announced. He quickly activated the stasis chamber, stopping the alien from sending any further information to his people.

" _Great_!"

The teltac had been sitting in a synchronous orbit above Cheyenne Mountain. Sam now piloted the ship upwards, taking it away from Earth.

"Let's hope the Targs did not learn too much about us." He sighed. "It is regrettable that we cannot tell what he said," Martouf observed.

"Well, maybe they didn't hear him at all... wait..." Sam leaned forward to check one of the readouts. "If I am reading this correct, someone just sent up a few fighters from Peterson!"

"That is the airport near Stargate Command, correct?"

"Yes."

"I assume we can take that as proof that our prisoner was heard - and that he sent _some_ information about us." Martouf sighed.

"Well, unless they modded those fighters, there should be no way for them to detect us cloaked." She checked the altitude. "Besides, we're almost out of the atmosphere, so they can't follow us."

"Agreed. The alien also has no way of knowing where our base is, so we are quite safe. Still, I would have preferred we did not have to let them know of the presence of Tok'ra here."

"Not a lot they can do about it." Sam steered the teltac towards the Moon, and they soon reached it. "Are we waiting behind the Moon until the sun sets in Idaho?"

"Yes. That should be soon, I believe?"

She checked the clock. "About one hour. Enough time to get a quick look at that data you gathered. Do you want to take over for the landing?"

"Certainly. However, if you want to, I can teach you?"

"I'd like that - and it's probably a good idea, but not now." She smiled, getting up from the seat. "Maybe when we get the telepathic scrambler to work?"

"Yes, let us do that." Martouf sat down and took over the controls, landing the ship.

* * *

"So now we know the frequency the aliens use for their telepathy," Sam concluded.

"Telepathy which is enhanced through a resonator that is built into their suits," Martouf added.

"Okay, so what does that mean? We can block the Targs from communicating?" O'Neill asked.

"Yes - as soon as we build a scrambler we can set up," Sam said.

Jacob nodded. "Sounds good. With your data we've had good success on making a disruption device that works despite the forceshield-block you found."

"Good, and what about that info-leak you talked about?" O'Neill asked.

"Regrettable, but unavoidable. It should not cause us problems," Martouf said.

"I agree," Sam added. "The Targ doesn't know where our base is, and it's not like they didn't already know we're against them, and that they want to catch us."

"True," O'Neill admitted.

"If the aliens are telepathic, could we tap their communication?" Daniel asked.

"Theoretically, but we don't know their language," Malek said.

"What about using those memory recall thingies?" O'Neill suggested. "You guys said you also had some other stuff that works with thought-control."

"True, but..." Martouf shook his head. "The aliens have very different brains, compared to humans - and symbiotes - and their thoughts and telepathy is on a different frequency. None of our technology works with them as it is, though it may be possible to change that. Using some sort of adapter, perhaps, but it will not be a quick change."

"Humans and symbiotes have minds that work the same way?" Daniel asked.

"Of course. Otherwise it would be very difficult for our neural systems to connect, or for us to talk internally," Martouf said.

"The mindlinks - how can they use those if their minds are so different?" Sam suddenly said.

"You are correct. Those devices must have an adapter, which we can possibly use to create one that works in the other direction," Martouf agreed.

"You can play with that later. For now you should just focus on blocking their telepathic signals, and on creating a device that can disrupt those mimicking devices," O'Neill said.


	16. Progress - and More Happiness

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning: This chapter is NC-17 for sex (Sam/Martouf/Lantash)

The next day passed with one group working on creating an effective disruption device that would work "in the field", and the other group working on a telepathic scrambler.

Since the forceshield that protected the mimicking device was integrated in the aliens suit, they had to do part of the work on the teltac.

When it was time to eat dinner, they had constructed a disruption device which worked with a radius of maybe 30 feet, and it would just be a matter of power to make it work in a larger area.

Meanwhile, Sam and Martouf/Lantash had succeeded in creating a telepathic scrambler, meaning it would no longer be necessary to keep the alien in stasis, in order to avoid compromising their location.

"All right," O'Neill said, when they were all sitting down to eat. "It looks like we're getting closer to being able to strike back!"

"Yes, if we set up disruption devices and telepathic scramblers near all the large congregation of aliens, we should be able to keep them occupied and in hiding while we free their prisoners and destroy their mindlink machines," Jacob said.

Malek nodded. "That should be enough to cause the majority of the aliens to vacate the planet. The rest can hopefully be found and taken care of, when there is no longer a concern about anyone's identity."

"Great, then the plan is clear. You guys just need to produce a bunch of those disruption and scrambling thingies." O'Neill smiled. "On that note - while you guys have been doing your sciency stuff, Teal'c, Daniel, Janet, and I went shopping and got some wine and other stuff. We thought we'd celebrate a little. Keep up morale, or whatever." He shrugged. "Not that you guys probably need it, since you've been fighting the Goa'uld for ages already."

"It is most appreciated," Martouf said. "The Tok'ra does that too, O'Neill. Even we need to relax and enjoy life sometimes."

"What do you know! Maybe you're not so bad anyway." He grinned. "Come, Teal'c - let's get the good stuff."

Teal'c inclined his head. "Yes. There is also fruit juice, for myself - and anyone else who prefers that."

* * *

Martouf nodded in greeting at Malek, when he saw the other Tok'ra by Janet's door. Her door opened, and Malek snuck inside, sending Martouf a loopy grin.

After that, Martouf remained in the corridor for a few moments. He had just finished getting ready for bed, and briefly considered knocking on Sam's door. They had been kept very busy all day, or been around the others, and so had not had the opportunity to either discuss the kisses on the teltac, or - something he very much hoped would happen - continue their interrupted kisses and caresses.

Lantash urged him to knock on Sam's door, but Martouf was worried she might already be asleep, or that she would not want to risk her friends finding out about their - possible - relationship.

He had just decided to wait until the morning, when the door to Sam's room opened.

"Are you going to come in, or do you want to stand out here all night?" she asked.

"How did you know I was out here?" Martouf wondered.

"You were pacing. Also, I can sense you." She smiled. "So? Do you want to come in?"

"Yes! _Definitely_." He quickly stepped inside, not wanting her to change her mind. He let his gaze slide over her, taking in the fact that she was only wearing a short, rather flimsy nightgown.

"Good!" Sam shut the door, locking it. She looked at him, as he stood there, wearing a Tau'ri pyjamas, "Did my dad give you that?"

"Janet did, actually. She kindly procured nightwear - and Tau'ri clothing in general - for all of us."

Sam nodded, then threw her arms around him. "I was really hoping you would come," she added, before kissing him. "That I hadn't, well, scared you off or something."

"You could never do that," Martouf murmured before kissing her softly.

He deepened the kiss and let his hands slide down over her back, down to her ass. Sam made a soft sound and slipped one of her hands up under his pyjamas top, letting her other hand slide to his firm butt.

She kissed him again, then pulled back enough that she could look him in the eyes. Normally pale, they were now dark with arousal.

"I want you," Sam said. "I... I know we haven't really talked, but I don't want to wait. What we're going to do, this upcoming mission... it's _dangerous_. If anything should happen, I don't want to live with the regret of not, well..." She blushed.

"I feel the same, Samantha. Our lives are dangerous, and we should embrace any chance of happiness." He pulled her closer again. "Let us spend the night giving each other pleasure." He looked her deeply in the eyes. "Lantash and I do very much hope there will be many more such nights - and days - and we wish to talk to you about that. About a possible shared future. _Later_."

Sam swallowed, suddenly very sure she loved him. Instead of replying in words, since she did not know how to even begin, she merely nodded and threw her arms around him, kissing him almost desperately.

She pressed her body against his, wrapping a leg around him and rubbing herself against the large bulge in his pants. Martouf gasped and pushed her up against the wall, kissing her passionately.

She pushed his shirt up, and slid her hands over the soft, naked skin of his back. Martouf pulled off his shirt entirely, and threw it in the general direction of a nearby chair, before turning his focus back to Sam. He let his hands glide up her sides, to her breasts, cupping them in his hands.

He licked and kissed his way from her mouth, down over her jaw, down to her throat, then further down towards her breasts. He pulled at her flimsy nightgown, not wanting anything in his way.

Martouf's eyes flashed as Lantash took control, and immediately removed Sam's nightwear, pulling it over her head and dropping it carelessly on the floor.

He filled his hands with her naked breasts, fondling them. He took one nipple between his lips, and flicked his tongue over the sensitive tip, feeling it harden. He repeated the treatment on the other, making Sam moan and close her eyes, and lean back against the wall behind her.

Lantash trailed kisses down over her stomach, kneeling in front of her and peeling off her panties. He placed a kiss on her mound, then on her inner thighs. Sam made a gasp when he spread her folds with his fingers, and grazed her clit with his thumb.

He slipped a finger into her. "You are very wet, my Samantha," Lantash said, a pleased expression on his face. "Wet for me." He gave her a naughty grin. "I will make sure your anticipation does not become disappointment." He made a long lick from her opening to her clit, which he sucked on. He flicked his tongue over the sensitive spot, using his fingers to pleasure her as well.

Sam moaned and entangled her fingers in his hair, pulling softly on it as he continued his mission to bring her to a satisfying climax. He was very skilled, and it did not take long before she came with a cry. She would have collapsed from the intense orgasm, if Lantash had not immediately picked her up and carried her to the bed.

She looked on with a sated smile while he quickly divested himself of his pants, and joined her on the bed. "Mmm, you are wonderful, Lantash, did you know that?"

"Of course." He gave her a self-assured smile. "But I am still pleased to hear you say it."

Sam rolled her eyes, but smiled. "Naughty scoundrel!"

"Perhaps," he agreed, lying down on top of her. "But I am quite certain you prefer me that way." He kissed her deeply, sliding a hand down between her legs.

Sam quickly responded to his caresses, and soon she was moaning and writhing under him. Martouf was urging Lantash on, since their shaft was so hard it was beginning to hurt, and they both desperately wanted to thrust it into Sam.

Unable to wait any longer, Lantash spread her folds and positioned his cock, thrusting into her. Sam made a soft gasp, and bucked up against him, causing him to sink in deeper.

"Yes! _Take_ _me_!" she pleaded.

Very willing to do just that, he pulled back a little, then pushed forward again, repeating it again and again, each time a little faster, _harder_. She was so tight and wet, and it was driving him crazy with lust. He was constantly _just_ on the edge of losing control and ram into her hard - which would probably cause him to come moments later.

Lantash gave Martouf control, and he continued thrusting into her, almost without missing a beat. He paused, briefly, just as much to try and control himself, as anything else.

"My beautiful Samantha," Martouf said, hoarsely. He kissed her, pushing his tongue into her mouth.

Sam moaned into his mouth and wrapped her arms around him, losing herself in the passionate kiss. She wiggled her hips under him, rubbing herself against him, desperate for even more stimulation. Martouf raised himself a little, just enough that he could get a hand in between them, and rub at her clit.

She gasped, and tried to push harder against him, so very close to coming. "Fuck me!" she begged. "Take me hard." She bucked against him again.

He forgot all plans he might have had about making her come one more time before he did, and started to ride her hard, his focus now only on his impending release. It did not take long before he climaxed, spilling his seed in her and calling out her name. Moments later, Sam joined him, coming hard.

Sated and happy, they fell asleep, snuggling closely together.

* * *

Sam had been a little worried about what her team mates might say - not to mention her father - but they had only given her and Martouf/Lantash amused looks. Perhaps they had not been as subtle in their interest for each other as they had thought.

However, Jacob had pulled Martouf/Lantash aside after breakfast, saying he wanted to talk to him about something.

Later, when Sam inquired, Martouf/Lantash insisted Jacob had just wanted his guarantee that his 'intentions were honourable' - something Martouf had happily assured him.

The next couple of weeks passed by quickly, with the days full of work. Since everyone knew anyway, Martouf/Lantash had taken to sleeping in Sam's room, just as Malek slept with Janet.

When the first week of November had gone by, they had finished enough of both the mimetic disrupters and the telepathic blockers, and even combined them into a small disruptor-blocker combo. The idea was to plant the devices on the largest alien facilities and bases at the same time, so as to cause chaos and disrupt communication for long enough to free the human prisoners.

Divested of their possibility to use the mindlinks, the Targs would have a much harder time pretending to be human, particularly the specific individuals they had been impersonating. In addition, SG-1 and the Tok'ra hoped the majority of the aliens would attempt to escape - or maybe even surrender - if the mimetic devices could be kept from working for a longer period of time.

Using the knowledge they had gleaned about the aliens and their telepathy, Sam and Martouf/Lantash succeeded in getting through to more secure levels of the aliens computer systems. They had learned that what the Targ masquerading as Ferretti had communicated when he was briefly awake on Earth, had just been a sort of authorization code - a means to identify who he was. Aside from that, he had informed the other Targs that he had been captured by someone with a spaceship. That was all, but it had helped immensely in cracking the aliens computer systems.


	17. Preparations

"That means we know with certainty that the Targs have five major bases, three of which have facilities like the one we were in nearby," Sam said. "Two large ones, and one smaller."

"Each of the large facilities hold about 250 humans, all of which are mind-linked to one of the aliens," Martouf added. "The smaller one has around 100."

"That... is a lot of aliens!" O'Neill said.

Martouf nodded. "Yes. As far as we have been able to tell, all the Targs are linked to someone."

"So about 600 aliens." Jacob looked stern.

"All of whom are pretending to be humans, many in sensitive positions." O'Neill shook his head.

"Well, hopefully we can take them down now?" Daniel said. "What about Stargate Command?"

" _Everyone_ there is a Targ," Sam said.

Jacob nodded. "Makes sense. They can't risk letting humans work there among them, in a place that holds their only means of escape."

"What about Colorado Springs?" Daniel wondered. "I mean, there's a _lot_ more people there, they can't _all_ be Targs."

"No, they are not, but some of those in influential positions are," Sam said.

"You've got a list of them?" O'Neill asked.

"We have partial lists of those who have been replaced, but not complete lists, no," Sam admitted.

"However, since we know where all the mindlink-facilities are, we will know all who are really Targs when we free the prisoners there," Martouf said.

O'Neill nodded. "True. Okay, anything else you've learned?"

"Well..." Sam looked to Martouf. "We actually found some reports on _us_. SG-1, I mean. Much of it we already knew, or guessed, though."

"Apparently the leader of your country had taken some interest in SG-1 after you saved the planet. More than once, even. The interest seems to be particularly in you, Colonel O'Neill," Martouf said. "This meant the Targs could use your likeness to get someone into a position of power, as military advisor to the president."

"Yes, we already know that," O'Neill said.

Undeterred, Martouf continued. "Your persona in the simulation would have become suspicious if the rest of SG-1 was dead, or otherwise not there. That would apparently cause problems with the mind-link, perhaps not enable the alien pretending to be you to behave satisfactorily."

"In addition, Teal'c and I were needed for our knowledge of the Goa'uld - to create realistic scenarios involving them," Sam explained. "Of course, by now the hallucination - or simulation - has gotten to the point where the Goa'uld are almost entirely removed from importance, so we are no longer as important. Also, since Teal'c and I can't have our minds linked to the aliens, we aren't worth a lot otherwise to the Targs."

"They do wanted as many as possible of you back in the simulation - if it was not _too_ troublesome," Martouf said. "At least until they could, well, _manipulate_ the simulation so that you were no longer needed."

"Wonderful - and how would they do that? They can't enter the hallucination, can they?" O'Neill wondered.

Martouf shook his head. "No, but apparently they had some help."

"Some humans appears to have known who the aliens were, but cooperated with them for personal gain," Sam explained.

"Damn _traitors_!" O'Neill exclaimed, angrily.

"We have their names on lists, so we can capture them later, when we have removed the Targs from the planet," Sam said.

"Are the aliens only here in the US?" Daniel asked. "Or are there some outside as well, like you thought?"

"There are some, but the aliens are mainly here in the US. They have only begun to infiltrate other countries. In fact, they're currently building a facility in the UK," Sam said.

"Well, it's time we stop them. If you don't have any other information, then we should get some rest. Tonight we leave for the first part of the mission," O'Neill said.

* * *

"Okay, so to recap - first we go to Colorado Springs, and plant some of the disruption devices, etcetera. We also go down that access shaft Carter used last time these nasty critters were here, and put up a bunch of the devices there, covering the place," O'Neill said. "Then we spread out. Go to the four other bases and set up things there. _Then_ on to the three facilities with the human captives and prepare to free them when we activate the devices."

"Sounds about right," Jacob agreed. "Sam - you sure about that access shaft? It's not been filled in?"

Sam shook her head. "No, but I suspect the security has been strengthened. I _think_ a digital lock may have been added to the hatch, but it could also be something I've... hallucinated. In which case I don't know the code. Sorry."

Jacob nodded. "No problem, we'll bring something in case it's there and the code has been changed - or whatever."

"It's almost completely dark outside. I propose we get something to eat, then get going," O'Neill said.

* * *

"Take care," Janet admonished Malek, as she hugged him tightly.

"I always do, Janet." He smiled at her and gave her a warm kiss. "I will see you soon."

Malek then hurried to the others who were waiting in the teltac. As soon as he was inside, they took off.

"We'll land in the forest west of Cheyenne Mountain," Jacob said, checking the readouts. "About five klicks out, just to be safe."

O'Neill made an unhappy sound. "I hope that's near where you left the car last you were there."

"Even if it hasn't been found, it wouldn't be safe to use it. Someone probably saw it, and regardless, it has been reported missing by now. No, we don't want to drive around in something that will get the police after us."

"It's the middle of the night," O'Neill grumbled.

"Sam, Martouf, Aldwin - have you packed all the devices and other stuff we need, in the backpacks?" Jacob called from the flight deck.

"Yes, dad!" Sam answered, walking onto the flight deck. "Everything is under control."

"It'll probably take most of the night setting up the disruptors both at Stargate Command and in much of the rest of the city," O'Neill said.

Sam nodded. "Fortunately, all the other alien bases should be quicker. We'll be ready for the attack on the mind-link facilities in a few days."

"I know, but I don't like that they have that long to detect what we're doing."

"They won't. The devices are very small. We split up the naquadah power cells, still giving each disruptor combo enough power to run for years, but making them no bigger than a little finger, in total."

"All right. Yeah, I know that's true. Doesn't change that I'll feel a Hell of a lot better when this is over!"


	18. Mission to Cheyenne Mountain

"Dammit! The hatch has been _welded_ shut!" Sam complained.

They had made it to the location of the access shaft leading down into Stargate Command. There had been only one near miss, when guards _almost_ saw them, but after waiting for about ten minutes with their hearts beating like crazy, the guards had disappeared.

"That is not a problem, Samantha," Martouf said. "We have brought a weapon which can be used for cutting through the metal."

"Making it more likely someone discovers something is amiss," O'Neill grumbled.

"I can presumably also weld it shut again," Martouf told him. "But the damage will not be invisible if they look at it closely." He took off his backpack and put it on the ground.

"Why would they? I doubt anyone checks this out very often. They have, after all, made reasonably sure no one uses that entrance," Sam said.

"Go ahead," Jacob told them.

Martouf pulled out a small, ring-like device, which he put around a finger. He was about to activate it when O'Neill suddenly reacted.

"Whoa! What the..." He stopped himself, and shook his head.

"What?" Martouf wondered.

Sam swallowed, and took a deep breath. "Zatarcs aren't real." She smiled at Martouf. " _Fortunately_."

He nodded. "Yes, you told me I used an Aut'kesh when I, ah, attempted to kill your president - in your hallucination." He gave her a smile. "I, too, am most pleased it was not reality."

O'Neill rolled his eyes. "Yeah, yeah, We're all happy. Come on, we don't have the whole night!"

Martouf did not comment on that, but merely set to work. He took a magnet with a line attached, and placed the magnet on the metal hatch. He then tied the line to his belt, and activated the Aut'kesh, cutting a small disk out of the hatch with the red beam. The disk slid into the hole, but fell only some centimeters before it was stopped by the line.

He pulled out the disk, and now started cutting a much larger hole around it, one large enough for a person to fit through. When he had almost cut an entire circle, he stuck his hand through the hole and held the disk in place while cutting the last part, then pulled up the piece of metal.

"Wow, nice," Sam said, smiling.

He nodded. "Thank you." He lighted a flashlight and shone it through the hole.

"There's a long way down!" O'Neill remarked.

"Yeah, I remember the climb!" Sam shuddered.

"I will do it this time," Martouf said, matter of factly.

"No, I've done it before. I can do it again," Sam insisted.

Martouf shook his head. "It does not make sense for either you, O'Neill, or Daniel to make the climb. You are all still weakened from your ordeal at the alien facility. I am the logical choice."

"Listen, we don't have time to stand around arguing," O'Neill said, throwing a quick glance around. "You go, Marty."

Martouf threw him a look that made it clear he did not like the nickname, but he merely nodded. "Hand me the backpack when I am through."

"Be careful!" Sam urged.

He smiled at her. "Always, Samantha."

* * *

"Everything in order?" O'Neill asked, giving Martouf a hand getting out of the access shaft.

He nodded. "Yes. I placed one of the disruptor-combos on each level. They are fastened to the entry hatches, and directed so that as much as possible of each level will be covered."

"Great!" O'Neill smiled. He checked his watch. "The timers are set so they go off in exactly two days from now, correct?"

"They are, yes," Martouf said.

Teal'c held the metal disk they had cut from the hatch in place while Martouf welded it back on, then did the same to the small disk.

"All right. Time to hit the rest of Colorado Springs!" O'Neill said. "Who got the list of places we're going to put the devices?"

* * *

"Dixon?" O'Neill asked, surprised.

"Colonel?" Dixon said, just as surprised. "I thought you'd been kidnapped?"

"Ah..." O'Neill looked past Dixon, towards the rest of SG-1 and the Tok'ra. Martouf held up one of the disruption devices, nodding to indicate it was active. O'Neill relaxed. "Don't believe everything you hear, ah, Major. Uh, can we talk somewhere? In _private_?"

"Sure..." Dixon threw the others a worried glance. "Wait, that's..."

"Yes, yes - as I said, don't believe all you hear."

Dixon nodded, clearly unsettled, but he lead O'Neill and the others to his house nearby.

"Be careful what you tell him," Jacob warned in a low voice, before they went inside.

"Of course - but he's human, and if he can be trusted we may have the first of those we need to help us take down the aliens," he whispered. Loudly, he said, "So, what are you doing out of uniform, Dixon? You on leave?"

"No, sir." He looked embarrassed. "It's a long story, but I'm not at the SGC any longer."

"Let's hear it - maybe we've got something to tell you too," O'Neill said, sitting down.

Jacob sat down as well, making sure he had a good view of the entire room, including the door.

Meanwhile, Sam, Daniel, Teal'c, Martouf/Lantash, Aldwin, and Malek went to place the disruption devices across Colorado Springs.

* * *

Several hours later, O'Neill and Jacob/Selmak met up with their friends on the road back to the forest where they had landed their teltac.

"Did you get everything set up?" Jacob asked.

"We did," Teal'c said.

"What about you guys? What did Dixon say?" Daniel wondered, curiously.

"He had become suspicious, and realized something was wrong, already months ago. To begin with he tried to wait it out, see what was going on, but then he happened to see some of his friends being captured by the aliens and realized what was going on. He left the SGC, but stayed here in Colorado Springs, trying to find others he could trust. They're 19 in their group right now."

"What were they going to do?" Sam asked.

"Keep an eye on the aliens and gather weapons. They were trying to organize a resistance."

"Dixon took us to meet a couple of the others," Jacob added.

"And you are _absolutely_ certain they can be trusted?" Martouf asked.

"99%. I didn't tell them about our plan, though, only that they should be ready to act. I think we can trust them," O'Neill said.

"I agree," Jacob said.

"That's great!" Sam smiled. "I'm beginning to think we can win this!"

* * *

The Sun had started to colour the eastern sky when they reached the teltac after a long and exhausting night.

Teal'c sat down in the pilot's seat, while everyone else tiredly sat down on the floor, eager for the few moments of rest they could get during the flight back to the cabin in Idaho.

Martouf put his arm around Sam, and she smiled and leaned against him.

Soon they would be back in the cabin, to get something to eat, and then some sleep. When night fell, it would be time to hit the other four alien bases, working in groups of two.


	19. Setting Up the Devices

"Okay, Aldwin and I will go to the alien base just outside Washington and plant some of these devices. It's one of the smaller bases, so I think we've got enough to cover it," Jacob said, checking through the boxes they had prepared.

"Teal'c and I take the small base near the facility in Alaska where we were prisoners," O'Neill grimaced. "Not exactly the right time for a trip up there, but I guess it can't be helped."

"Martouf and I have the base in California, in Cleveland forest a bit east of San Diego. You got the other base in Alaska, don't you Daniel, Malek?" Sam asked.

"We do," Malek confirmed.

"Great, then we all know where we're going," O'Neill said. "Since there's no way out until Jacob picks us up in the teltac, we've all got to be careful. We're only two people each place - or three, if we're counting the Tok'ra as two." He grinned. " _Or_ four people, in the case of your group, Jacob and Aldwin! Anyway, you've got no backup, so don't do something stupid, and don't get caught. Get in, do the job, get out. Got it?"

"Yes, Jack. We're all experienced operatives or soldiers here." Jacob looked at Daniel. " _Mostly_ , anyway."

"That reminds me - Malek, if you see some weird alien thingie, make sure Daniel doesn't touch it, okay?"

"Jack!" Daniel complained. "I don't run around touching strange alien... contraptions. Well, not _always_."

"Right!" O'Neill said, sarcastically. "Okay, guys - let's get going. Jacob?"

"Yes. Sam - did you bring the printout of the maps of the bases you downloaded?"

"Of course, dad. We didn't spend several days digging through their systems to then not bring the maps we found!" Sam said.

"Good. Get ready - I'm dropping you and Martouf off first."

* * *

"Wait! Someone's coming!" Martouf whispered, pulling Sam back to safety behind the low wall.

"Damn!" Sam grumbled in a low voice.

They made themselves as small as possible, to avoid being seen. The guard walked across the open area ahead, getting closer and closer to them.

Sam and Martouf both held their weapons ready, should the guard notice them. He was almost upon them, when someone shouted at him from a door across the yard.

The guard turned around and looked towards the other person, who had just come through a door in the main building. Apparently deciding it might be important, he went to talk to him.

Sam and Martouf could relax for a moment, and they looked to each other with relief.

Not waiting around for the guard to come back, they crawled along the wall until they were out of his line of sight, then climbed over the wall. It was darker here, and only a single window in the nearest building were in their direction.

"Okay, in order to make sure the whole compound is covered, we need to plant at least another four devices, in locations close to here, here, here, and here." Martouf pointed at the map.

Sam looked at the map, then at the buildings nearby. "I think placing one up in that tree should work." She pointed.

"I agree," Martouf said.

After a quick look in the direction of the dark window, they hurried over to the tree.

Sam looked up into the crown. "I guess we should put it on one of the branches nearer to the top, so it's less likely anyone will see it." She looked at the tall stem, with no branches near the ground.

"We should." Martouf let his backpack slide off, and took one of the devices and put it in his pocket. "I will climb up."

"Let me help you." Sam clasped her hands and held them so he could step on them.

With Sam's help, he could reach the lowest of the branches, and he pulled himself up. As he climbed, Sam let her gaze slide over his ass, enjoying the sight.

After a few moments, during which Sam nervously kept guard, she heard his voice from above.

"Done. I am coming down." He landed beside her with a soft thud.

Sam smiled at him and handed him his backpack. "Okay, only three more to go."

* * *

" _Damn_ it's cold!" O'Neill complained, keeping his voice down. He rubbed his hands together. "These gloves feel like they were made of paper!"

They were lying behind some bushes, waiting for a group of men standing before the entrance to the compound and talking, to leave.

"It is ten degrees Fahrenheit. We are fortunate it is not minus eight, like it was yesterday," Teal'c said.

"You checked the weather report?" O'Neill shook his head. "Of course you did." He sighed. "Well, at least there's almost no snow. That's damn lucky, or we'd have made tracks everywhere. No way we could have done this undetected."

"Indeed." Teal'c looked at the group of people who had not moved from the spot.

"Why aren't they moving? If we have to stay here much longer I'm going to freeze solid!"

Just then, the group broke up and the men left, some for their cars, some to go inside the compound again.

"I believe we will soon be free to move."

"Finally!" O'Neill let out a sigh of relief. "Ten devices - that's what we need to cover the whole place, right?"

"It is. Have you forgotten?" Teal'c asked, concerned.

"No, it was a rhetorical question, Teal'c. You remember what rhetorical means?"

"I do," Teal'c said, his expression less than pleased.

"Sorry. It's the damn cold. It's getting to me."

* * *

"All done!" Sam smiled. "Let's get out of here."

"Yes. I believe it would be safest to follow the wall all the way to the back of the compound, then go through the small forest there," Lantash said. "Then across the rocky area to the larger forest."

"I agree, even if it's something of a detour." She checked her watch. "My dad won't be here for another couple hours. At _least_ \- and that's assuming everything went to plan, for everyone."

They made as little noise as they could during their escape. Sam was trained at stealth, but she again got reminded that the Tok'ra was on a completely different level. Lantash moved so silently that Sam felt she was making a lot of noise in comparison.

Soon they were far enough away from the compound that they could move more freely, and so they could increase their speed.

After maybe thirty minutes, they had made it back into an area that had somewhat denser forestation, and to the spot where they had agreed with Jacob that he would pick them up. By then the wind had picked up a lot, and it was getting colder.

Lantash looked at the sky. "I think it is going to rain."

He had barely spoken the words, before a lightning bolt tore across the sky, followed by a clap of thunder some time later.

"Crap." Sam sighed. "I'm guessing... that thunderstorm is maybe four or five miles away?"

"That is my estimate as well." He looked around. "We should find a safer place to wait for Jacob and the others."

"No kidding!" Sam looked around in the darkness, and at the trees around them. Most of the area was mountainous and covered in low bushes, with the occasional thicket of trees, like the one they were standing in.

"I think I noticed something that _might_ have been the opening of a cave, some quarter of a mile back," Lantash said. "I cannot be absolutely sure, though. It is quite dark, even though the moon briefly broke through the clouds back there."

Sam nodded. "Okay. Sounds like our best bet. Let's go take a look."

They had seen several more flashes of lightning while they had talked, and the rumbling of thunder had grown much closer. It was almost completely dark now, since the moon and stars were totally hidden behind the clouds.

"Follow me. I see better in the darkness than a human." Lantash took her hand, and together they started walking back towards where he thought he had seen the cave.

They had walked for maybe five minutes when it began to rain. The thunderstorm was very close now, and lightning flashed almost constantly.

"Wonderful," Sam grumbled. "Dad won't be here for nearly two hours. By then we'll look like drowned mice - unless we've been fried by the lightning."

"That will not happen, Samantha. The cave mouth is just over there. See?" Lantash pointed when the area was again briefly lighted. "It looks like it will be deep enough for safety, at least."

They hurried the last bit of the way, and ran into the cave. Lantash was right, it was actually quite deep - more than enough to provide safety for lightning, and cover for the rain and the wind as well.

Sam let out a sigh of relief, and turned to Lantash, smiling in the darkness. "You were right. This is a _great_ place to hide."

"Yes." He took off his backpack and rummaged around in it, finding a flashlight and turning it on, shining it at the walls of the cave, and into the deepest corners. "I do not see anything dangerous in here." He returned the flashlight to his backpack.

"Right, there could have been snakes - or even mountain lions or bobcats. Though I guess if there were any large predators in here, we'd have heard them when we entered." Sam took off her backpack too, and put it on the ground.

"Exactly." Lantash smiled, and put his arms around Sam from behind. "So, it's just the three of us." He buried his face in her hair, and made a contented sigh.

Sam turned in his arms and embraced him too, giving him a kiss. "Yes." She leaned her head against him and closed her eyes. "It's nice and warm, standing so close." She took a deep breath, drawing in his scent. She smiled and snuggled even closer to him.

They remained standing there, close together, for a long time. Now and then they would kiss, or change position a little, or talk together in low voices. Martouf and Lantash took turns being in control, both wanting to spend time being the one holding their beloved.

"I look forward to when we are back in the cabin, in our _shared_ bedroom," Lantash whispered into her ear. "I really wish it wasn't so cold here..."

Sam giggled. "You are naughty!" She kissed him. "But I agree."

He kissed her again. "You are wonderful, Samantha. Despite the threat from these Targs, Martouf and I have enjoyed this month here with you immensely. We, we love you so much!"

"You, you _love_ me?" Sam asked, not sure she dared believe him.

"Yes, how could we not?" He hugged her closer to him again. "You are kind, intelligent, brave and beautiful - both a strong and capable warrior, and a very skilled scientist. On top of that, you accept us, _both_ of us. You came to seek out the Tok'ra, even after what happened to you with Jolinar. When we went to Netu, even suffering as much as you did, you reached out to us as well." He glided his fingers over her cheek, caressing her. "Yes, we love you very much, and we hope you will allow us to be part of your future in some form, even after we hopefully free your world of the Targs."

Sam gave him a warm smile, feeling the love for him and Martouf very strongly. She kissed him, and took a deep breath. "For a long time I wasn't sure what I felt - or if it even was _me_ who felt it, and not Jolinar. This month - together with the years I imagined living, years where you were, were dead. It has convinced me that I do feel very strongly for you, both of you." She kissed him again. "I love you, Lantash and Martouf - and as difficult as it may be to have a relationship with someone who is on another _planet_ , we _will_ figure something out!"

They kissed again, the kiss starting out warm and full of love, but soon turning passionate. Lantash slid his hands under Sam's jacket and pulled at her shirt, wanting to feel her soft warm skin directly against him.

Suddenly, the communicator in Lantash's pocket buzzed. He ignored it, and continued kissing and fondling Sam, though when the communicator buzzed for the third time he pulled it out and answered, hiding his annoyance.

"This is Lantash."

"Jacob here, why didn't you answer? We're here to pick you up!"

"We have taken cover in a cave, some quarter of a mile from the place where we were to meet. A thunderstorm was right overhead, and it was not safe to wait out in the open."

"Well the weather has cleared, so you can come back here now. Jacob out."

Sam shook her head. "Typically dad. We'd better get going."

Lantash nodded. "Yes. Besides, the sooner we get to the teltac, the sooner we get back to the our bedroom." He allowed his eyes to flash, as if to put emphasis on his words.

Sam smiled. "Good point." She took his hand, and they hurried back to the meeting place.


	20. Freeing the Prisoners

Next evening, they set out for the mission to free the prisoners from the mind-link facilities. If all went well, in four hours the aliens would be thrown into confusion and unable to masquerade as humans or communicate telepathically. By then, SG-1 and the Tok'ra intended to be ready to act.

There were three facilities; two large ones, including the one SG-1 had been held in, and one smaller one. They had split up in three groups for the mission; two with three people, and one with two people. Hopefully it would be enough, but unless the aliens had changed anything, there would be few guards at the facilities.

Of course, there was also the disruption devices, which would be placed around the mindlink facilities before they moved in, just as they had been placed on the bases the day before.

All together, SG-1 and the Tok'ra had high hopes it would go well.

"Jack - are you going to call Major Dixon and tell him to have his people stand ready?" Jacob said. "If we're lucky, the aliens in Colorado Springs will be so confused and think only on hiding or getting away from Earth, that Dixon should have a fair chance of capturing some of them, maybe even retake parts of the Cheyenne Mountain complex."

O'Neill nodded. "Yes, I'll call him as soon as we're on the ground in Alaska." He turned to Sam and Martouf/Lantash. "How precise will those devices of yours be? Can we count on the timer to activate them at _exactly_ 0330 hours?"

"Yes, it'll work," Sam assured him.

"Okay. Jacob, let's fly Carter and Martouf to the facility in California first, then the rest of us go to the two larger ones in Alaska."

* * *

O'Neill shut off his communicator. "All right, I've told Dixon. He says he can have his people ready to move at 0330 hours."

"It's too bad we don't have anyone that can take care of the aliens in Washington," Daniel said.

"Yeah, well, I rather think they'll have more problems than the others, given that their base is _inside_ the city. It'll be hard for them to avoid being seen in their natural form." O'Neill grinned.

"There does not seem to be any guards here, O'Neill," Teal'c said.

"Good, then let's plant those devices - just for safety, _if_ guards _do_ show up." O'Neill shuddered. "This place do bring back some unpleasant memories."

* * *

"Damn, someone's coming," Jacob said,indicating the two approaching cars.

"Guards, probably. It may be part of a routine round," Malek suggested.

All of them crouched down further behind the wall, making sure they were not seen.

"Probably, but then we'll just have to hope they're quick. There's only thirty minutes until the disruption devices go live," Jacob reminded them.

"It should not be too much of a problem, though, should it? Even if they are still here, then, I mean," Aldwin said. "They will probably be confused for a few minutes, at least, and that should be enough for us to take them out."

"Yeah, if they stay near each other and are not too heavily armed. Problem is if they're inside, some place we can't get to them. We don't know what kind of weaponry they've got hidden inside, and their base is close enough that they can call for reinforcements that'll be here in fifteen to twenty minutes," Jacob said. "It's not like they would need to worry about not looking human out _here_!"

"It would be best if we and our plan remained undetected until we have freed the prisoners. If that is not an option, perhaps we should consider neutralizing the guards," Malek suggested. "It is unlikely there are humans among them, and if there are, they are collaborators."

Jacob nodded slowly. "Yes, I tend to agree. I wonder if stun grenades work on them? If we shoot them we risk one or more of them sending an alarm signal to their base."

"Zat'nik'tels does not work. I doubt stun grenades do either. It is too risky," Malek said.

By now the two cars had parked on the lot in front of the entrance to the main building.

Jacob sighed. "We wait. If it's just a routine check, they'll be out of here quickly. In any case, it'll be easier to take them out when they're unable to communicate telepathically."

Malek risked a quick glance at the guards. "Three people in each car. They are all similarly dressed. Probably guards, as you said. They are entering the building now."

Jacob nodded. "Okay." He looked at his watch. "Twenty-five minutes."

The minutes ticked by, and the guards did not come back out.

"What if they have discovered something is amiss?" Aldwin suggested, nervously.

"None of the devices are inside. There is nothing suspicious for them to discover there," Malek reminded him.

They continued waiting in silence, with all three symbiotes working at keeping their hosts - and themselves - calm.

"Sixty seconds," Jacob informed them.

Just then, they heard the entrance door to the building being opened. Malek stole a quick look, before whispering to the others. "They are leaving. All six of them."

They waited, well aware that the devices would activate in seconds, and that the aliens would not have time to get far away.

Indeed, the guards had only just entered their cars, when the distortion-blocking combo devices activated. A guttural cry was heard.

"They all look like Targs now - and they seem to be unsure of what to do," Aldwin said. "The devices work."

Wanting to take maximum advantage of any confusion, the three Tok'ra jumped up and fired at the aliens who had exited the cars again and was now standing around, making strange noises - or more likely, talking.

Since zat'nik'tels did not work on the Targs, all the Tok'ra were armed with Tau'ri weapons, which they had trained in using over the last several weeks.

The first three aliens fell in the initial attack, but the three others recovered from their shock quickly enough to draw their weapons and fire back.

"Get down!" Jacob ordered, but it was not necessary - the two other Tok'ra dove for safety as fast as he did.

"I will to crawl to the end of the wall. That should enable me to shoot at the Targs from a more opportune angle," Gerim said, having gotten control from Aldwin.

"Okay, sounds good," Jacob said. "Malek? You go with Gerim."

Symbiotes had faster reactions than humans, even human hosts, and Jacob relinquished control to Selmak.

"We will throw a stun grenade, in the hopes that it will at least confuse them," Selmak said. "That should hopefully get their attention so you can shoot them."

Malek and Gerim nodded, and started crawling.

Selmak waited until they had reached the end of the wall, now and then firing a few shots at the aliens to make sure they did not have time to do anything else. When she saw her friends were in place, she gave them a sign and then looped a stun grenade at the aliens.

The grenade exploded, and the Tok'ra made sure to keep behind the cover of the wall, so as not to be affected. When Malek and Gerim looked out, the Targs were still standing, but they were all looking towards where Selmak were.

She stuck a hand up with her M5, and shot a few times in the general direction of the aliens.

Taking the opportunity while their enemies were occupied, Malek and Gerim both rose from their position and fired at them, hitting two of them. The third turned with a guttural cry and shot wildly at Malek and Gerim, who had to jump for their life.

Gerim cried out, but made it to safety. "They hit my leg," he told Malek. "I, I will be fine."

Malek gave his friend a concerned look, then nodded once. "We will get the last Targ, and then I will get my healing device."

They heard weapons fire from where Selmak was located.

"All the Targs are down," Selmak shouted. She ran to check on the aliens, approaching them hesitantly and with her weapon aimed.

Malek joined her, and they made sure all the aliens were dead.

"Aldwin and Gerim?" Selmak wondered.

"He is wounded, but it is not serious, I think. I will go and help him," Malek said.

Selmak dipped her head, letting Jacob take control.

Gerim had gotten up and was leaning against the low wall, making sure not to put weight on his left leg. "The bullet went straight through. The injury will heal on its own," he insisted.

"You're bleeding a lot, though," Jacob said. "Let Malek help you."

Malek already had his healing device out, and activated it. The beam started playing over Gerim's lower leg, where the bullet had hit.

"We do not have the time. More Targs can be here soon," Gerim argued.

"This will only take a moment," Malek promised. He ran the healing device's beam over the wound a few more times, and it closed. "I have stopped the bleeding, but it is not completely healed yet."

"Thank you. I will do that myself. Go, free the prisoners," Gerim urged, sitting down.

"We'll be back soon," Jacob said, as he and Malek ran into the building.

* * *

"What is going on?" the man Sam had just helped down from the alien contraption wondered. "Where are we?"

" _Why_ are we here?" another man asked, concern in his voice. "What _is_ this place!?"

"It's a long story," Sam said. "Right now we need to hurry. Get you guys out of here."

Martouf was helping people out of the harnesses and down as well. Most of them were confused, and many of them were weak, just as SG-1 had been. That would take a while to pass - Sam, Daniel, and O'Neill had only recently begun to gain their strength back, and they were still some way from being back to normal.

"You're from the Air Force?" one woman asked Martouf, who - like the others - wore BDUs for the mission.

"Please, we will explain everything when we get out of here," Martouf said.

"I am Major Samantha Carter of the US Air Force. He's... Captain Martouf Lantash. We're here to free you."

"What _is_ that thing?" a man asked, pointing at the multitude of connecting cables and harnesses, all running towards a large, strange looking apparatus.

"And why are we so weak?" another wondered.

"How did we get here? I, I was at a garden party," a woman said.

"So was I! I am Senator Orwell, and I _demand_ to know what is going on!" a middle-aged man said angrily.

Sam groaned, really wishing she was at one of the two larger facilities instead. Most of the prisoners there knew about the Stargate project. The ones here knew _nothing_ about aliens.

"You have all been captured by a, a _crime syndicate_ , who wanted to learn your secrets," Sam wanted to roll her eyes at the cover story they had come up with the other day, but perhaps the people here were drugged enough to believe it.

"Yes, haven't you noticed that you are all, ah, people in important positions?" Martouf added. "This place is an advanced form of, ah, _brainwashing_."

"They are tapping your information, and using it against your country. We are part of a team sent here to free you, but you need to move fast," Sam said. "The enemy isn't completely neutralized yet, and may come here."

"Look at the place! Is it not obvious you were being held here against your will? Is it not advantageous for you to get away from here?" Martouf insisted, pointing at the harnesses and cables everywhere. "Regardless of what this place is or why you are here!"

"He's right," one of the men who had asked before said.

"Yeah. Come on, guys. Let's get out of here," another man added, this one still wearing most of a tuxedo.

The others slowly mumbled their agreement, and with relieved sighs, Sam and Martouf/Lantash led them out.

The underground facility was located a few miles to the north-west of the alien base. It was in an otherwise uninhabited area, just like the base, of course, but closer to a town. With all the humans freed, the aliens would have no mind-links to use, and so would probably not attempt to impersonate humans, or even try to come after them in such a large group.

That meant everyone they met would be human, and it would be safe to take the former prisoners to the town.

* * *

"Carter, here," Sam said into the communicator.

" _This is Colonel O'Neill. We've freed all the prisoners at our site, and Jacob has reported success at their location as well."_

"That's great to hear! Everyone is freed here too. We had no problems with the, ah, the enemy," Sam said, throwing a quick glance at the people walking close by.

" _We heard from Dixon. He says they have secured most of the base at Cheyenne Mountain,_ " O'Neill said, picking up on Sam's choice not to talk about anything not known to the public.

"That is good news! We are taking the people here to a place they can stay for now."

" _General Hammond is here with us. He and a couple others from the top brass are working on figuring something out. Harriman is here too, I'll talk to him about arranging for buses for the prisoners where you are, and finding a safe place to take them. I'll call you back in a little while. O'Neill, out._ "

"I guess you heard?" Sam asked Martouf, who was walking beside her.

He nodded. "Yes. These people are very tired, very weakened from their experience, so it would be good to have transportation arranged for them."

"I agree, but the busses won't be here that soon, so they'll probably have to walk to the nearest city," Sam said.

"No we won't! I refuse to walk any further! We'll wait for the busses!" Senator Orwell insisted.

"The city isn't that far away. Look." Sam pointed in the direction of the street lights that could just barely be made out at the horizon.

"Not far away!" one of the other men snorted. "It's several miles, at _least_."

"Why are we so tired? I've _never_ been this weak before!" a man angrily insisted.

"Yeah - did they drug us with something?" the man in the tuxedo said. He leaned against a tree, closing his eyes. "I can't walk any longer right now!"

"I agree, we're staying here!" a woman said, sitting down on a large rock.

Sam groaned, but Martouf put a calming hand on her shoulder. "Let them rest for a little while."

"What if the Targs come?" Sam whispered into his ear.

"I believe, as you pointed out earlier, that they have other problems."

Sam sighed. "You're probably right. Okay, we're waiting, for now."

* * *

It was a fairly warm night, but it still became chilly to sit still for a longer time. After almost an hour had passed, everyone was willing to continue walking.

After maybe ten minutes, they left the gravel road and came out onto a paved road. They had not walked far along it before they saw headlights approaching, and Sam's communicator buzzed.

"Major Carter here."

" _Carter, this is Colonel O'Neill._ "

"Sir?"

" _Harriman got hold of some people he knows, and busses should be on the way. Arriving soon, actually._ "

"Yeah, we see them!" Sam grinned. "Tell him thanks!"

" _I'll do that! He's also arranged for a place for them to stay, until we can talk to them. Explain what's been going on, and such. O'Neill, out!_ "

The busses stopped in front of them, and the tired people happily boarded.


	21. Success

"Dixon told us many of the aliens panicked when their mimetic devices no longer functioned," O'Neill said. "Some just stood there, others ran to hide, and some outright attacked people around them."

"Losing their telepathic connection to each other can't have helped," Sam said. "It must have been pretty scary for them, actually."

Jacob nodded. "It probably was. Not that I care one bit about their problems. Did General Hammond say anything?"

"He's gone directly to Washington, with a group of people he can trust. Though I guess the Targs who had infiltrated the government and top levels of the military probably doesn't dare try anything without a mind-link, even if they should have found a way to shut off the distortion devices," O'Neill told them. "That reminds me - he asked you guys to check out the devices and see if they're still working, and if not, to set up new ones."

"All right." Sam looked to Martouf. "We can do that."

He nodded. "Yes."

"Has there been any reports of sightings of the aliens?" Teal'c asked.

"Oh, yeah. _Lots_! Several people have called the police saying they've seen people in _masks_ \- and some report seeing monsters. I'm sure there are some conspiracy theories being created right now," O'Neill observed drily.

"I'm sure someone is already on that, preparing some story to explain it," Jacob said, rolling his eyes a little. "Can't say I usually give much for your cover stories."

"Well, Martouf and I should leave. Go check out that the devices still work and haven't been found," Sam said.

"I'll come with you," Jacob said, getting up.

"As will I," Malek added.

"Okay, guys. Report back as soon as you know anything," O'Neill said, as they left the room.

* * *

"That was Dixon," O'Neill said. "Seems like they've taken Stargate Command from the Targs."

"Really?" Daniel exclaimed. " _Already_?"

"Yeah, most of the aliens just ran away when their little scheme no longer worked, and those who were caught in Colorado Springs and couldn't get to the Stargate, blew themselves up, just like last time they attacked," O'Neill said. He looked grim. "Seems like there were a _lot_ of damage, and a number of dead and wounded, from people being caught in the explosions."

"The situation will most likely be the same at the other alien bases," Teal'c said.

"Sam!" Daniel exclaimed. "She - and Jacob, Martouf, and Malek - are in Washington, checking on the distortion devices!"

O'Neill's communicator buzzed before he could reply. "O'Neill here."

" _This is Jacob. It looks like some of the Targs have blown themselves up!"_

"It's the same in Colorado Springs. Are you alright?"

" _Yes, we're fine. We had just finished checking all the distortion devices and had returned to the teltac, when we began recording the explosions."_

"About fits with the time when Dixon and his men took back Stargate Command and cut off the Targs from their only escape offworld."

" _Looks like most of them had already gone into hiding, so there probably aren't too much collateral damage here."_

"That's good."

" _Another thing. It looks like they've found a way around the telepathic blocks. Didn't do them a lot of good - only meant they got the news about the way offworld being shut off."_

"Okay. Got it."

" _I'm assuming the bases in Alaska are still secure?"_ Jacob asked.

"They are. The people we left there have been relieved by fresh - _vetted_ \- men from Elmendorf and Eielson bases," O'Neill said.

" _Good, we'll continue to the location of the alien base outside San Diego, then. Jacob out."_

O'Neill turned off the communicator and put it down on the table. "Well, you heard what happened. It looks like we're about to win." He smiled.

"That is good," Teal'c said, smiling.

"Yeah, it is." Daniel nodded. "As long as we can be sure there aren't any of those Targs hiding out somewhere, waiting for us to forget about them."

* * *

It was early evening when Sam, Jacob/Selmak, Martouf/Lantash, and Malek returned to the cabin.

"How did it go?" O'Neill asked, as soon as they walked in through the door.

"Fairly well," Sam said. "The distortion devices were still working, just like in the other places, and the Targs at the base had _not_ succeeded in overcoming the telepathic block."

Janet and Aldwin entered the room too, followed by Teal'c. Malek went directly to Janet and gave her a hug, which was warmly reciprocated.

"So, what did they do?" Daniel asked.

"Several of them had attempted to travel to Stargate Command, to get off Earth. They were captured by marines from Pendleton - seems General Hammond had thought to call someone at their base, and have a team be on alert," Jacob said, smiling.

"Awesome!" O'Neill grinned. "What about the rest?"

"A group of about ten were hiding when we arrived. When we discovered them, we were attacked and had to retreat at first," Sam explained. "However, when we went back in, we discovered they had barricaded themselves in the room with the diesel generator, and we decided to, ah, blow it up, sir."

"Blow it up?" O'Neill nodded. "Well, it's a remote area. No one else nearby. Sounds like a good plan, Carter. Quit the subtle!"

"Yes, sir. We placed Claymores and grenades in the room beside the one the aliens were in, up against the wall nearest to the generator. Then we set a timer and detonated by remote when we were in the teltac."

"Nice big explosion," Jacob said, sending his daughter a smile.

"I assume you went back and made sure the Targs were actually dead?" O'Neill asked.

"We did," Martouf confirmed. "They were. All of them. We spent time searching the area afterwards."

"Great! The bases in Alaska is under control too, and so is Stargate Command and Cheyenne Mountain. All the remaining aliens there - and in Washington - appears to have blown themselves up when they couldn't escape. Of course, it'll be a while before we can be sure - or reasonably sure - that there aren't any hiding somewhere."

"It doesn't seem to be their M.O., does it?" Daniel said.

"No, but it's better to be safe than sorry," O'Neill said.

"What about the ones that were building a facility in London?" Sam wondered.

"Blew themselves up. All of them. The British reported it to the public as an attack from a break-out group of the IRA, so there is no leaks to contain there," O'Neill remarked grimly.

"I gather the fallout of this will take a while to fix," Jacob said. "The aliens had gotten their hands on a lot of important people here in the US, and infiltrated many governmental organisations."

"Not to mention all the explosions, and all the people who saw the alien in their natural state." O'Neill nodded. "Yeah, I'm glad I'm not one of those who has to handle _that_."

* * *

Several weeks later, at Stargate Command.

"So, are we expected to do something?" Martouf asked in a low voice, pulling at his tie. He looked decidedly uncomfortable.

Sam shook her head. "No, just wait for General Hammond to arrive. We then go stand on the platform in the order I explained earlier." She smiled and adjusted his tie that had almost come undone. "And _please_ just leave it like that."

"It is unpleasant," Martouf complained.

Jacob grinned. "I've had to wear one almost every day for years, as a General."

Malek shuddered, touching his own tie, then pulling at the jacket. "It is good the Tok'ra does not have such an unpleasant type of clothing."

"Goa'uld clothing can be unpleasant, though," Aldwin remarked. "I am glad I am rarely undercover."

"If the stories I hear is true, I'd like to see you in certain types of Goa'uld clothing..." Janet whispered in Malek's ear.

He grinned at her. "For you, that can _certainly_ be arranged."

"Why couldn't we just wear our Tok'ra uniforms?" Martouf sighed, stopping himself from pulling at his tie again.

"Because pinning a medal on that hard leather would probably break the pin, and that would just be embarrassing, don't you think?" O'Neill said, grinning.

Martouf made a noncommittal sound, and looked around at the people present. Everyone was wearing either dress uniforms or suits.

Sam smiled at Martouf, and gave him a kiss, then quickly stepped back as the room started to fill with their colleagues who had come to see them get their medals for saving the planet from the aliens.

"By the way, what cover story did you run with?" Jacob asked.

"Terrorists. Who used some sort of hallucinogen as part of their attack - nicely explaining why people saw what they thought were monsters," Sam said.

Jacob nodded. "I guess that works."

A few moments later, Hammond entered the gateroom and walked up to stand behind the lectern. A lieutenant went up to Hammond, holding out a large tray with many medals.

Hammond smiled happily at SG-1 and the Tok'ra, who had now gone to stand on the platform. "General Jacob Carter - and Selmak, Colonel Jack O'Neill, Major Samantha Carter, Major Janet Fraiser, Teal'c, Doctor Daniel Jackson, Malek and Johan, Martouf and Lantash, Aldwin and Gerim... did I get everyone?" He smiled again. "You have all distinguished yourself by heroism involving voluntary risk of life. Against completely impossible odds, you have succeeded in saving this planet from an alien occupation, and freed hundreds of people from an alien simulation."

He picked up the first of the medals and went to stand before Jacob. "General Jacob Carter, it is with great pleasure I award you the Distinguished Flying Cross." He pinned the medal on Jacob and saluted him.

Jacob returned the salute. "Thank you, sir."

Hammond turned to the young lieutenant with the tray of medals, and took the next medal, then went to O'Neill.

"Colonel Jack O'Neill, it is with..."

* * *

Martouf looked at the shiny medal on his chest, then up at the members of SG-1 who was approaching him.

"Come on - now comes the good part!" O'Neill said.

"The good part?" Martouf asked, confused.

"Cake," Sam whispered to him, smiling.

"I saw Jacob and the rest of your Tok'ra friends leave for the mess hall. If we want there to be any cake left for us, I think we'd better hurry," O'Neill said.

"In that case I shall make haste," Martouf said, smiling.

Together, they went to the mess hall, to celebrate the success against the aliens - and the great success of the Tok'ra-Tauri cooperation. Hopefully the first of many such shared successes.

 

THE END.


End file.
